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THE 
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Containing information of great practical nse in 

Love 5 Courtship, and Marriage ; 

ALSO, 
The Detection, Prevention, and Cure of Diseases in general, 



By R. F. YOUNG & CO., 

NEW-YORK. 
Price, One Dollar, sent free of postage on receipt of pric«. 



&'# 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, 

By R. F. YOUNG & CO., 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United State! 
for the Southern District of New York. 



PREFACE. 



In offering this work to the public, we would state, that never be- 
fore has so much valuable knowledge been comprehended in so small 
a compass, and no man can thoroughly appreciate the amount of 
experience, deep study and persevering research, required to ela- 
borate a treatise like this, as it penetrates he most profound mys- 
teries of Nature, and furnishes the key to unlock every secret. The 
matter comprising this volume, might easily have been extended to 
a ponderous book, had we not been aware of the wants of the public, 
and confined the explanations and remarks, to the narrowest limits 
connected with a pro jer understanding of each subject. With this 
book at hand, you are precisely in the same condition that you would 
be, in communicating with your dearest friend. Nay, the book is 
better than any friend could be to you, for it responds to questions 
which you are continually asking in your own heart. It tells you 
many things of which you can gain a knowledge through no other 
source, and gives the reader an insight into the nature and treat- 
ment of diseases, which no man eould possibly have made known, 
had he not, together with a genius of the loftiest character, enjoyed 
the opportunities of a life long experience of travel, in every known 
portion of the habitual globe, and also an intimate association with, 
and minute observation of the manners and customs of its many dif- 
ferent people. In these enlightened days of the Nineteemh Century 
It has become necessary to discard the old system as totally un- 
worthy of the age we live in. And in practice, to adopt exclusively 
the Herbal System of treatment. 

Jit cannot be denied, that medical science, as it now stands, is mis- 
erably hnperfect, and full of theoretical and practical errors. The 
free intelligence of the age— the progress of research and science- 
are daily detecting the shocking errors and outrages of the olden 



PREFACE. 



schools,. Honor, truth, justice and benevolence, all demand that 
antiquated falsehoods should be contemed with scorn, and improve- 
ments presented that can stand the closest test of the most extensive 
experience. The public has become tired of the high pretentions 
and pedantic learning, but unsatisfactory results of medical science. 
Indeed, not only have the public become weary, but physicians 
themselves have experienced weariness and disgust. Many abandon 
their profession, because the public have not appreciated and re- 
warded their labors, while many have abandoned it also from a 
total dissatisfaction with its power, under the system they have 
studied, to relieve human suffering. Yet the medical profession is 
almost everywhere lamentably crowded. The community is so sup- 
plied, ad nauseum, with practioners of various mrts, that the send- 
ing forth a new crop of young physicians from our medical colleges' 
has become a standing occasion for jest. Though these young men 
may be possessed of unquestioned talent, and thoroughly educated 
in the most famous schools, they will never meet with appreciation 
and success, so long as they adhere to exploded authorities, and 
narrow themselves down to the " five drug" *routinism of the most 
" illustrious" practitioners of the present day. 

In the following pages, the great laws of life and health are dis- 
cussed, and the proper treatment of disease indicated. For every 
disease, there exists a remedy, and this may be had without recourse 
to minerals, as will be clearly shown. In this book, as much as 
possible, the use of terms which nobody but the professional man 
can understand have been discarded in order to bring it within the 
comprehension of all, and convey information, regardless of ele- 
gance of diction, or the beauty of periods. 

We have endeavored to discuss the great question of medical and 
moral reform, in a plain, convincing, practical manner. The great 
enemies of mankind are Disease, Error and Prejudice— We oppose to 
these Truth, Nature and Exper/ence, with Light and Love as ad- 
juncts. 

Not only in medicine, but in the moral sciences, are we befogged, 
depraved, and inconsistent We have cast nature aside, and em- 
braced artifice. It is plain enough to understand cur beautiful des- 
tiny, both as it is affected by the present and the future. Nature 
owns no mystery to which she has not furnished a key, and if we 



PREFACE. 5 



but search faithfully, industriously, and with an eye single to our 
purposes, we may discover the clue to any singularity under Heav- 
en. We hare searched for, and we have found, the key to the mys- 
teij of disease— to the mystery of want and poverty— to the mys- 
tery of general unhappiness. We unlock those mysteries in these 
pages. Take this book, therefore, and read it carefully. Give heed 
to its contents, for every line thereof affects you personally. Read 
it calmly, deliberately, studiously and without prejudice, and after 
you have read it, we fear not your verdict as to its merits. 

Here we would caution you to beware of the vile and sickly imi- 
tations of this book with which the country is flooded. Unprinci- 
pled and shameful imposters, who have copied from our work until 
smitten by their guilty conscience, and not desiring to copy out- 
right, they have issued descriptive circulars, claiming for their 
work subjects which they do not contain. These circulars have 
been scattered broadcast throughout the land, bearing with them 
falsehood and deception in almost every other line. 

Our descriptions of diseases and their treatment they have palmed 
off as original with themselves. They have also counterfeited our 
chemical and medical discoveries, or adopted our descriptions as 
belonging exclusively to their worthless concoctions. Again we 
say, beware of these charlatans. Their impositions will be readily 
apparant to all, upon comparing this book with their miserable im- 
itations. 

The "MAGIC WAND AND MEDICAL GUIDE" is a work that 
has cost years of deep and ardent study and research. It contains 
more than a third more reading matter than any other medical 
work of alike nature before the public, and we challenge the world 
for a superior. 

All who send to us may be assured that their orders will be faith- 
fully attended to, and their commuuications kept inviolably secret. 
Address DR. S. F. YOUNG A CO., 

New-York, 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

We are aware that in publishing a work of this nature we are 
treading on the corns of those old fogies who it seems would check, 
and, if possible, arrest the onward course of medical and physiologi- 
cal science because they have trudged along all their lives in the old 
beaten path, and have become so habituated to their accustomed 
mode of treatment of diseases that they actually close their eyes to 
the glaring light revealed by the true principles of these modern days 
—principles which should be adopted without a moment's delay by 
every physician who has at heart the welfare of his patients. These 
very same old fogies have witnessed the improvements in almost 
every other branch of the various arts and sciences. They have 
seen the lightning fluid made subservient to the will of man. They 
have witnessed the great improvements and advantages of steam 
whereby we are now wafted from one point to another almost as 
if by magic, and as it were nearly annihilating space. They have 
seen improvements in all the Mechanical and Agricultural pursuits 
and all these they acknowledge and accept without a murmur, but 
when their attention is called to improvements and new discoveries 
far the more successful prosecution of the Medical profession where- 
by Health, Happiness and Prosperity may be enjoyed, these they 
reject, not because they do not anprove them, but merely because 
by accepting them they acknowledge that they have been wrong 
all their lives, and this is a confession they are unwilling to make. 
It will be observed by a perusal of the following pages that they 
contain none of those disgusting plates which fill most other works 
of this nature and which of course prevent their perusal in public 
by all modest and respectable persons, for they know not what 
disagreeable sight may be brought to view by the turn of each suc- 
ceeding page. The " Magic Wand and Medical Guide" contains 
nothing offensive to the most modest and refined, thus rendering it a 
book that can be read anywhere and by any one, and in which all 
may find rare and valuable information concerning them personally 
either in a moral, physical, or pecuniary point of view. 



Connection of the Brain with our 
Mental Faculties. 

TV hen we investigate the condition of the various orders 
of vertebrate animals, which alone admit of a comparison 
with our own species, we find, on the one hand, great 
differences among them, with regard to both their physical 
and mental faculties, and on the other hand a not less 
marked difference as to the structure of their brain. In 
all of them the brain has a central organ, which is a con- 
tinuation of the spinal cord, to which has been given the 
name of Medulla Oblongata. In connection with this, 
there are other bodies placed in pairs, of a small size and 
simple structure in the lowest species offish, becoming 
gradually larger and more complex as we trace them 
through the other classes, until they reach their greatest 
degree of development in man himself. That each of these 
bodies has its peculiar functions, it is apprehended there 
cannot be the smallest doubt, and it is, indeed, sufficiently 
probable that each of them is not a single organ, but a 
congeries of organs, having distinct and separate uses. 

The Corpora quadrigemina are four tubercles, which 
connect tjie cerebrum,, cerebellum and medulla oblongata to 
each other. If one of the uppermost of these bodies be 
removed, blindness of the eye of the opposite side is the 
consequence. If the upper part of the cerebrum be re- 
moved, the animal becomes blind and apparently stupefied ; 
but not so much so but that he may be roused, and that he 
can then walk with steadiness and precision. The most 
important part of the whole brain is a particular portion of 
the central organ medulla oblongata. While this remains 
entire, the animal retains its sensibility, breathes, and per- 
forms instinctive motions. But if this small mass of the 
nervous system be injured, there is an end of these several 
functions, and death immediately ensues. 



& THE MAGIC WAND AND 



Impotency and Sterility of the Male. 

Where the hindrance to cohabitation arises from or- 
ganic defects, congenital malformation, or diseases of some 
of the organs of generation, the disqualification may gen- 
erally be considered absolute or irremediable. It is re- 
markable, however, to what extent mutilation or disease 
may occur, without total annihilation of the procreative 
powers ; the smallest remnant of the penis, for instance, 
capable of entering trhe vagina, provided the testes be 
sound, being sufficient for impregnation. 

A learned lecturer on medical jurisprudence gives it as 
his opinion, that the smallest quantity of seminal discharge, 
deposited in the lower part of the female generative ap- 
paratus , provided the female be apt to conceive, is sufficient 
for impregnation: and it is astonishing how minute a 
quantity of this plastic agent is necessary for that purpose 
in some species of creatures. Spallanzani took three 
grains by weight of the male fluid of the frog, and mixing 
it with seventeen ounces of water, found that impregnation 
of the eggs was produced by as much of this exceedingly 
weak mixture as would adhere to the point of a fine 
needle. 

Although, in human formation, it is not essentially ne- 
cessary that the male material should be deposited in the 
upper part of the vagina of the female, yet there is little 
doubt that the deeper entrance of this substance conduce§ 
impregnation. 

Malformation of the genital organs has already been 
stated as a cause of impotence. Such cases furnish much 
uneasiness at first, but are easily relievable. I have met 
with many instances, where consumation has been prolonged 
from months to years, which a slight knowledge of the 
[unctions of the parturient organs might have relieved in 
a few days; and with respect to the latter, it may be 
pardonable to mention that, as the husband should be the 
first to instruct his companion in what is to be expected, 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 9 

but little disappointment will be experienced, except with 
the vicious and unworthy. 

There is room for much ingenuity in these matters; and 
as marriages are made for better or wors* 1 , there exist 
poweiful inducements to resort to the contrivances of the 
ingenious humane. 

The f llowing cases of malformation fell under my own 
observation ; and the adjoining delineation is a true picture 
of the circumstances. The penis, at its under surface, was 
adherent, from birth, to the scrotum, consequently, when 
erection ensued, it presented the form of a half circle; the 
urine escaped near the roots of the penis The penis itself 
was impervious, but sensible to amative passion. The 
gentleman submitted to a division of the fold which united 
the penis with the scrotum, which former, on being thus 
released, assumed its proper position ; sexual congress was 
thereby attainable, and during erection the orifice of the 
uretha was drawn sufficiently up to allow of the ejection of" 
the semen into the vagina. Of the ultimate result I have 
yet to hear. 

It mdy appear almost incredible, that the sketch here 
presented can be a true one, of the penis and testicles of a 
young man upward of 19 years of age. No less was it a 
source of wonderment to myself than it may afford a doubt 
to others. I carefully examined the individual, and saw 
him urinate; the stream was certainly small, but surpris- 
ingly large for so minute an organization. He was quite 
unconscious of amative feeling ; the testicles were distinctly 
perceptible by the finger, but they certainly were not larger 
than cherry kernels. The young man, in other respects, 
preserved the male attributes ; he had a slight beard, and 
his voice, though not powerful, was by no means effem- 
inate. I had several interviews with him, and then lost 
sight of him. 

The loss of erectile power is occasioned through more 
causes than one. Erection ensues independently of the 
will or imagination, as instanced on waking in the morn- 



10 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



ing — the canse is most probably a distended bladder ; the 
phenomena may be a sympathetic irtitability of the muscles 
of the perinceum, especially the erectores ; there is a 
general pelvic disturbance, the nervous excitement is in- 
creased, and the rush of blood (obedient to that excite- 
ment) is sent to the penis : such, I believe, is the sympathy 
belween all these structures. The will exercises the same, 
and the results of the imagination do not materially differ; 
consequently where the mind fiils in producing these 
effects, local excitants may be found to supply its office, 
hence the usefulness of art in combating the eccentricities 
of nature. The mere handling of the testicles kindles 
desire, and in like manner, stimulatives applied over the 
scrotum generate amative heat. 

A curve of rtie penis is sometimes an obstruction to 
connubial intercourse ; this arises from the adhesion or ob- 
literation of the cells of the Corpora Cavernosa on one 
side only, preventing the uniform flow of the blood into 
those structures, and consequently the equal distention of 
the penis. The curve is of course laterally, and occasions 
in the act of coition pain to both parties, or the power of 
penetration is insufficient. Occasionally this malformation 
is onlv temporary, and consequently remediable. 

Franck gives an instance in which so considerable a por- 
tion of the penis had been carried away by a musket-shot, 
that when the wound healed, the organ remained curved, 
and yet proved adequate to the ) erformances of its 
functions. 

An opinion formerly prevailed, that the existence of the 
testes was unnecessary for effective copulation ; but that is 
no longer a point of dispute ; their absence, whether natu- 
ral or artificial, invariably rendering the invalid unfruitful. 
It is not, however, to be inferred, that a person is impotent 
in whom no testicles are discovered in the scrotum, in- 
stances occurring where they do not descend from the ab- 
domen (their embryotic abode) through the whole period 
of life. One testicle, provided it be sound, is sufficient 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 11 

for procreation. Complete extirpation of the testes, al- 
though destructive of procreative powers, does not extin- 
guish venereal desires. Where the genital organs exist, 
but are malformed, or pathologically altered, their virility 
may be nullified. 

A contracted state of the prepuce, its adherence to the 
glans, or that condition of it termed phymosis, form impe- 
diments to the emission of the semen, which can only be re- 
moved by an operation ; and if that be neglected, the evil 
continues through life. 

Among the diseases which occasion sterility in the male, 
thos^ affecting the penis and those incident to the testi- 
cles may be numerated. With regard to the former, there 
often exists an excess or deficiency of muscular or nervous 
energy, inducing priapism or permanent erection in some 
instances, or paralysis or permanent flaccidity in others. 
In pi'iapism, the erection is so vigorous, and all the parts 
so distended, that the semen cannot pass into the urethra ; 
while in paralysis, from some inaptitude of nervous or 
muscular powers of the genital organs, the corpora caver- 
nosa receive but a limited supply of blood, insufficient lo 
create erection, or provoke a seminal discharge. 

Strictures of the u»ethra are among the barriers to sex- 
ual intercourse ; but happily, only in extreme cases, where 
the urethra is all but closed, so as to oppose the passing 
of the finest bougie. 

The testicle is subject to a variety of diseases, wherein 
such a relaxation or obliteration of its structure ensues, 
that the seminal fluid is no longer formed ; and where both 
testicles are alike affected, sexual desire is most usually 
wholly extinguished — the smallest portion, however, of 
either gland remaining uninjured, may still be capable of 
secreting semen sufficient for impregnation. 

Impotence may follow accidents to the testicles, such as 
produced by a bruise ; or even a testicle, which shall 
have become inflamed from clap, shall become so chroni- 
cally hardened as to be useless. Bruising the testicles 



12 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



was the mode adopted by the oriental courts for destroying 
masculine efficiency in the attendants of the harem. 

There are certain conditions of health, in which, al- 
though the genital organs may be perfect, yet, owing to 
some constitutional frigidity there is an incapability of er- 
ection. The offspring of too young, or very aged, infirm 
persons, or of those worn down by debauchery, are but too 
common instances. 

The appearance of persons of this temperament is thus 
described by a French writer : "The hair is white, fair 
and thin ; no beard, and countenance pale ; flesh soft and 
without hair; voice clear, sharp, and piercing; the eyes 
sorrowful and dull ; the form round, shoulders narrow ; 
perspiration acid; testicle small, withered, pendulous and 
soft ; the spermatic chords small ; scrotum flaccid ; the 
gland of the testicle insensible; no capillary growth on 
the pubis ; a moral apathy ; pusillanimity and fear on the 
least, occasion. 7 ' 

The most frequent cause of impotence, at that period of 
existence when man should be in the zenith of his procrea- 
tive power, is in a general weakness of the generative or- 
gans, induced by too early an indulgence in coition, the 
pernicious and demoralizing crime of masturbation, or the 
abuse of venereal pleasures. In these cases, erection will 
not take place, or but feebly, although the mind be highly 
excited by lascivious ideas. The erector muscles are 
paralysed from over-use, and the semen, if any is secreted, 
from the lax and withered state of the testes, is clear, se- 
rous, without consistence, and consequently deficient of 
prolific virtue. Sometimes there is a want of consent be- 
tween immediate and secondary organs of generation ; 
thus, the penis acts without the testicles, and becomes 
erected when there is no semen to be evacuated ; while 
the testi les secrete too quickly, and an evacuation takes 
place without any exertion of the penis; the latter disap- 
pointment is of extensive prevalence. 

Impotence is sometimes occasioned by particular disea- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 13 



ses during their continuance, such as narvous and malig- 
nant fevers; while, strange to relate, an opposite effect is 
sometimes produced by other diseases, such as gout and 
rheumatism, haemorrhoids, etc. ; and instances are on the 
record, that others produce such a change in the constitu- 
tion, that an impotent man may find himself cured of his 
impotency on their cessation. 

Of all the functions of the animal economy, none are so 
subservient to nervous influence as those of generation, 
which, when the organs are perfect, and respond not to 
the natural application of them, the cause may be classed 
among those impediments termed moral. 

As the parts of generation are not necessary for the ex- 
istence or support of the individual, but have a reference to 
something else in which the mind has a principal concern ; 
so a complete action in those parts cannot take place with- 
out a perfect harmony of the body and mind, that is, there 
must be both a power of mind and body and disposition of 
mind; for the mind is subject to a thousand caprices 
which affect the action of these parts. 

As these cases do not arise frome ral inability, they are 
to be carefully distinguished from such as do; and, per- 
haps, the only way to distinguish them, is to examine into 
the state of mind respecting this act. So trifling often is 
the circumstance, which shall produce this inability, de- 
pending on the mind, that the very desire to please shall 
have that effect, as in making the woman the sole object 
to be gratified. 



Treatment of Impotence. 

In venturing upon this part of the subject, it will be as 
well, first, to distinguish those cases that are curable from 
those that admit of no relief. Among the latter may be 
enumerated all those arising from an original or accidental 
defect in the organs of generation. Where, also, old age 



14 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



is the cause, little is to be done : medicines are of no avail, 
and temporary stimuli not un frequently worse. Let those 
who are afflicted with impotence, write to us, at once, and 
if the case is curable, or otherwise, we will honestly reply by 
return mail. 

That certain medicaments, ailments and so forth, do pos- 
sess an aphrodisica p wer, is not to be denied ; but when 
adopted by those weak beings, whose bodies are eithei 
worn out by age or excess, and who pin their faith to such 
restoratives, the little remaining sensibility in their frames, 
the source of life and energy can not sustain the shock of 
reaction ; and the result is, total annihilation or death. 

From what has already been stated, it will be peiceived, 
that the mind exercises no inconsiderable influence over 
the functionsyof the organs of generation : and as the state 
of mind depends upon the particular circumstances under 
which it may be placed, any attempt to establish a code of 
instructions, applicable to every instance in which a sport- 
ive fancy, or disturbed imagination, constituted the prevail- 
ing cause, would be abortive, and would be considered as 
pandering to a vicious and depraved appetite, whereas the 
object of this treatise is only to encourage the diffident, to 
assist the afflicted, and render a service to those legitimately 
deserving it. 

As excess in sexual indulgence impares the generative 
power, no less injurious may entire abstinence be consi- 
dered. The due exercise of an organ tends to its perfec- 
tion, as the neglect or mis-use of it, to its impairment. 
Besides, there is not any wonderful virtue in abstaining 
from the proper use of the sexes. Why, in the name of 
morality, were such powerful impulses and desires bestowed 
upon us ? Why were such wonderful organizations given to 
us, if they were not originally designed to be used by every 
one who is possessed of them 1 Society, in its present form 
is not perhaps constructed with a philosophical regard to 
our own natural instincts, and our own original rights. 

Among the causes that induce impuissance, or that dis- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 15 



tressing condition under the cognomen of nervous debility , 
there is not one more reprehensive than the unworthy 
and pernicious practice of self-abuse. It is much to be re- 
gretted, that some medical writer, of talent and estimation 
in society, has not turued his attention to the subject, and 
given the influence of his name in denouncing to the world 
the misery and devastation which are the unerring conse- 
quences of this sordid and solitary vice. It is indeed an 
unpleasant and thankless task ; at d there probably exists 
in most minds, an unwillingness to enter upon a subject in 
which there is so much difficulty in selecting language suf- 
ficiently appropriate to exhibit the folly in its true colors, 
without offending the ear of the chaste and virtuous. 

But a question of such paramount importance should not 
be sacrificed to any false or prudish notions of delicacy; we 
shall therefore offer such observations, as we may think cal- 
culated to check the progress of a vice, that has done more 
to demoralize the human mind than the whole catalogue of 
existing causes besides. It may be deemed an exaggera- 
tion, when it is stated that full three fourths of the insane 
owe their malady to the effects of masturbation : but the as- 
sertion is corroborated by one of the first writers on medi- 
cal jurisprudence, and is fully borne out by the daily expe- 
rience of proprietors of the lunatic asylums. The practice 
of self-abuse usually has its origin in boarding-schools, and 
other places where young persons congregate in numbers ; 
and there are few of us who may not have observed the 
vice practiced, althongh it may be unpleasant to avow as 
much, that could resist the contamination. 

" One sickly sheep infects the flock, 
And poisons all the rest." 

And thus it is, though ninety-and-nine be pure and spot- 
less as the driven snow, if the hundreth be immor 1, the 
poison is soon disseminated, the flock become initiated into 
vice, which, if indulged in, will blast th'oif intellectual fac- 
ulties and probably consign them as outcasts of society; 



16 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



rendering them slavering idiots, or the inmates of a lunatic 
asylum. It is not only in private schools that this sin rages, 
our public foundations and colleges are not exempt from it. 
The heads of our universities are particularly scrupulous in 
Driving from their neighborhood the frail fair, lest tl e/ 
should contaminate the votaries of learning; while a vicj 
far more degrading in its practice, and infinitely more bane- 
ful in its effects, rages within the very sanctuaries of classic 
lore. Many a brilliant genius has sunk into fatuity beneath 
its degrading influence. Loss of memory, idiocy, blind- 
ness, total impotance, nervous debility, paralysis, strangury, 
etc., are among the unerring consequences of an indulgence 
in this criminal passion. We need not bring a greater proof 
of the dire effects of an indulgence in the practice of mas- 
turbation, than the deplorable state of mind to which it re- 
duced one of our greatest poets. 



Impotence and Sterility of the Female. 

A female may be impotent, and not sterile ; and sterile 
not impotent, Impotence can only exist in the female, 
when there is an impervious vagina ; but even this condi- 
tion does not necessarily infer sterility, many cases being 
recorded, where the semen, by some means or another, 
through an aperture that would not admit a fine probe, has 
found entrance to the vagina and occasioned impregna- 
tion. 

Impotence may arise from a malformed pelvis, the ab- 
sence of a vagina, adhesion of its labia, unruptured hymen, 
or one of such strength as to resist intromission. In the 
two former instances, sterility is irremediable ; but art, and 
indeed nature, may overcome the latter impediments. 

Where hermaphroditism exists, the sex is usually more 
masculine ; it is a vulgar error to suppose that the two 
s?xes exist entire, and that they are capable of giving and 
receiving the offices of married life. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 17 



Leucorrhoea is often attended with barrenness ; at all 
events, it 19 very debilitating-, and thus impedes conception. 
A notion once prevailed, that women who did not menstru- 
ate could not conceive ; it has since been disproved, except 
in those instances where menstruation never occurred : a 
single monthly discharge indicates an ampitude for concep- 
tion. It is observed that barren women have very small 
breasts. Women who are very fat are often barren, for 
their corpulence either exists as a mark of weakness of the 
system, or it depends upon a want of activity of the ovaria: 
thus spayed or castrated animals generally become fat. 
The same remarks apply to the male kind, who are outra- 
geously corpulent. There are many other peculiarities in 
matrimonial life, fertile subjects for speculation ; such as, 
for instance, the lapse of time that often occurs after mar- 
riage before conception takes place, and the space between 
each act of gestation ; the solution of which may be that 
these occurrences are modified by certain aptitudes, dispo- 
sitions, state of health, etc. ; the same may explain why 
persons have lived together for years in unfruitful matrimo- 
ny, and who yet, after being divorced and marrying others, 
have both had children. 

It is not always that the most healthy women are more 
favorable to conception than the spare and feeble. High 
feeding and starvation are alike occasionally inimical to 
breeding. The regularity of the " courses V appears prin- 
cipally essential to secure impregnation; and the inter- 
course is generally held likely to be more fruitful that takes 
place early after that customary relief. 

Women in health are capable of bearing children, on an 
'average, for a period of thirty years, from the age of fifteen 
to forty-five; but their incapacity to procreate does not 
deny them the sexual gratification, it being well accredited, 
that women upward of seventy years of age have been 
known, who have lost but little of the amative inclination 
and enjoyment which they possessed in their early days. 
Men certainly possess their procreative power to a longer 



/ 



18 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



period, it being common for men to become fathers at 
eighty, ninety, and one hundred — old Parr becoming a pa- 
rent at the age of one hundred and thirty. Women rarely 
falls pregnant beyond fifty. 

Some females endure intense pain during cotion, so as to 
occasion fainting or great exhaustion. Such suffering is 
usually traceable to internal ailments — such as piles, fistu- 
lous openings between the rectum and vagina, ulcerated 
wombs, vaginal tumors or abscesses. Cases continually pie- 
sent themselves, where, on the removal of the cause, the 
effect is cured. 

The number of children that women have individually 
given birth to is very variable. It is attested, among a 
collection of facts of this nature, that one female gave 
birth to eighteen children at six births ; another, forty-four 
children in all, thirty in first marriage and fourteen in the 
second; and in a still more extraordinary case, nfty-thre© 
children in all, in one marriage eighteen times single 
births, five times twins, four times triplets, once six, and 
once seven. Men have been known to beget seventy or 
eighty children in two or more marriages. With regard to 
the aggregate proportion of male and female births, it ap- 
pears that the males predominate about four or five only in 
one hundred. The average number of children in each 
marriage is, in England, from five to seven. 

To a continual irritability of temper among females may 
be ascribed infertility. Independently of ever fostering 
domestic disquietude, it producess thinness and feeble 
health ; and, where pregnancy does insue, it most fre- 
quently provokes miscarriage, or leads to the biith of ill- 
conditioned and puny offspring. 

Perhaps one of the most indispensible and endearing 
qualifications of the feminine character is an amiable tem- 
per. Cold and callous must be the man who does not prize 
the meek and igentle spirit of a confiding woman. Her 
lips may not be sculptured in the line of perfect beauty, 
her eye may not roll in dazzling splendor, but if the native 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 19 

smile b« ever ready to welcome t and the glance fraught 
with clin°ing devotion, or shrinking sensibility, she must 
be prized far above gold or rubies. A few moments of en- 
during silence would often prevent years of discord and un- 
happiness; but the keen retort and waspish argument too 
often break the chain of affection, link by link, and leave 
the heart with no tie to hold it but a cold and frigid duty. 

The treatment of this delusive and mentally annihilating 
propensity, falls equally within the province of the philos- 
opher and the physician. Without a total abandonment of 
the practice, the case is hopeli ss ; and he to whom the 
consequences shall have been portrayed and heeds them 
not, is unworthy of our sympathy, but deserves the evils he 
entails upon himself. 

Now, as the consequences of all criminalities continue to 
ensue so long as the provocative be kept up, it is evident 
that, as a first toward the restoration of order and health, 
the cause must be removed or withheld. The mere will or 
resolution is seldom sufficient; virtue, like vice, has its al- 
lurements, and those belonging to the former must be cal- 
led into requisition as antagonists to the snares of the latter. 
Physic can not check bad principles, or bad indulgences. 

No method is or can be superior to that full employment 
of the mental faculties on noble and intellectual subjects, 
on objects worthv the high ends for which Nature has 
adapted them. And though the difficulty will be great in 
induci- g new and good habits, to the exclusion of such as 
are unworthy and degrading, yet the effectual accomplish- 
ment of such a resolution is not of uncommon occurrence; 
and the sufferer may be placed under circumstances where 
good habits may be more frequently called into action na- 
turally, to the exclusion of vicious propensities. The time 
should be well filled, so as to leave no room for flying to 
the various usual sources of amusement that fill up the life 
of the thoughtless and gay. Every hour and every minute 
should be provided for, so as to exclude the admission of 
idleness and sloth, the forerunners of mental and bodily 



20 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

disease. Studies connected with education should be en- 
couraged. Modern languages have a great claim on the 
consideration of all who are engaged in business to any ex- 
tent, and are of inra.luable use after they have fulfilled the 
immediate end for which their culture is here recommend- 
ed. The various sciences being more or less on the pur- 
suits and employments of every man are earnestly recom- 
mended to the choice of the unfortunate victim of sensual- 
ity. Geology and botany would call him into the healthful 
fields, o! fill up his time by his fireside, in studying the 
many excellent works on those subjects : the still higher 
utility of chemistry l as being made of practical use in al- 
most every business, and dem nstrating the else unintelli- 
gible phenomena of a multitude of natural processes and 
changes, may be held up as another inducement to call 
forth his best energies. 

Travelling, to those who can afford the expense or the 
time, is one of the best means of conquering this baneful 
habit. The numerous objects thereby piesented to the eye 
of the invalid in the manners, government and productions 
of art and nature, of the countries he visits, are an inces- 
sant source of pleasing and useful excitement, and can not 
fail, especially if the traveler be accompanied by an intel- 
ligent and moral friend, to weaken and eradicate the bad 
impression of the past. 

To diverge, and at the same time to conclude this part of 
the subject, we have only to offer a few remarks relative to 
the medical and therapeutic treatment of those cases of im- 
puissance, that age, disorganization, and total incapacity, 
do not exclude from consideration. We have already ex- 
pressed our belief, that generative imbecility is conseculive 
to general debility ; hence, whatever tends to improve the 
latter, tends also to remove the former. The diet, there- 
fore, should be full and generous, with a liberal portion of 
spices; but all stimulating liquids, such as wine, brandy, 
and the rest, should be avoided. 

Bathing, in its various forms, constitutes no unimportant 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 21 

feature in the treatment ; the cold plunging, the tepid 
shower, the douche, the warm and the vapor baths, possess 
their several influences. The various medicines that come 
under the denomination of aphordisiacs, are not wholly un- 
influential, such as stomachics, aromatics, gums and bal- 
sams, oils and others ; but as their administration can only 
be permitted under professional direction, no real utility 
can follow any specification or formulary of their propor- 
tions. We would therefore earnestly advise all who are suf 
fering under any form of impotence or sexual debility, to 
apply by letter immediately to us. The course of medi- 
cines sent, and the full and explicit directions for use, ena- 
bles the patient to treat himself in precisely the same 
manner as if he were under our personal supervision. Our 
medicines contain no minerals; as I believe in the herbal 
treatment exclusively. The price of a full course of medi- 
dines, guaranteed to cure the worst forms of sterility and 
debility, $15. Sent to any part of the United States by 
express, securely packed, upon receipt of price. Address 
Dr. R. F. Young & Co., No. 599 Broadway, New-York. 

The Road to Marriage. 

The proper age for marriage, according to the law of 
this country, is twenty-one for the male, and eighteen for 
the female ; But in Nature's law, twenty-five for the male, 
and twenty-one for the female, to accord with the com- 
plete development of the adutt. 

The great cause of unmarried adults in chr'stian com- 
munities, is owing to the difficulties young people experi- 
ence, in indeavoring to procure partners. That is, in fact, 
no bachelor has been so from choice, and, in nine of ten 
cases, the reasons he will give you for his celibacy, are not 
the true casues. 

By for the greatest number of old bachelors, has been 
occasioned by circumstances which have kept them aloof 



22 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

from female society, or the bashfulness which would never 
permit them to bring a lady to the simple answer " yes " 
for "no." 

We have known young men with every advantage of 
person and fortune to be deeply in love, but who, in con- 
sequence of their backwardness in revealing their passion, 
have waited until some person, without the moiety of their 
deserts, but with a stock of assurance, carried away the ob- 
ject of their affections. 

Again ladies are obliged to remain single for the want of 
an opportunity to procure husbands. This is generally ow- 
ing to selfishness of parents, who exclude young men yet 
from their house, except those too insignificant to win their 
daughters affections, till at last the lady is compelled to 
remain single or favor inferiors. 

Homeliness of person is never the cause of want of 
partners, for every age has its model, and fancies are as 
various as are the peculiar notions of individuals. 

When a young man finds himself unusually facinated by 
a young lady, perhaps at first sight, he should at once 
come to a stand-still, and make a thorough examination of 
his own circumstances, in case he should be successful ; 
and also the situation of the other party, including charac- 
ter, disposition, prior engagements, etc. ; and then, should 
everything co-operate, or nearly co-operate with his wishes, 
in God's name let him * go ahead.' We insist, however, 
that # little precaution in the beginning may save a great 
deal of trouble in the sequel, because a man may stifle and 
destroy the effects of first sight love, if he will only remain 
away from the occasion of it ; whereas, if he rushes consi- 
derately into it, it may afterwards turn out that his reason 
and respect will prompt him to eschew a passion which, his 
yet powerful affections may keep him inevitably bound to. 

When a man finds his heart is "gone," and that the pos- 
session of a certain female is requisite to his happiness, he 
should at once begin to study her character, so as to di- 
rect his own accordingly This we maintain is a most 



3TEDICAL GUIDE. 23 



important point ; for a gentleman who attempts to woo 
a lady after a fashion opposed to her prejudices, has al- 
most as little chance of success, as a person who might un- 
dertake to solve a mathematical problem with an improper 
number of figures; or even as on 1 should endeavor to stop 
the course of time by letting his watch run down. 

Whan, therefore, a man goes in quest of a wife, as a sort 
of business speculation, and with the chief intention of be- 
coming a domestic man, and making himself comfortable, 
he should first carefully examine himself, in order to deter- 
mine the nature of the being that might contribute most to 
his happiness; for, otherwise, his blissful anticipations of a 
domestic heart, cheerful companion, and connubial felicity 
may all find a termination on the very day on which he had 
hoped to launch for ever into their undisturbed enjoyments. 

Hence, a covetous man should avoid marrying with a 
generous girl, for she will not only make him miserable by 
her expenditure, or her complaints, but she will also learn 
to dislike him for his principles. 

A man of generous disposition, however, would do best 
to provide himself with a frugal wife, for she will honor 
and boast of his nature, at the same time she will prevent 
it from bringing its possessor to povert y; and again such a 
husband will best know how to appreciate such a wife : for 
the thriitiness which is mean in a man is commendable in 
a woman, especially if she has got a wasteful partner to 
deal with. 

A man of phlegmatic nature should be careful how he 
marries a warm and buoyant woman, for, in case a woman 
of his temperament does not feel that his affections are re- 
turned, nothing but the strictest sense of morality will pre- 
vent her bringing them to another, even though it should 
be an unlawful market. 

For the same reason a man of an amorous organization 
should never unite himself with a cold, unexcitable, and 
matter-of-fact female: for, unless he is another Joseph, he 
will most assuredly be untrue to ner, as he will be unable 



24 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

to bear with the vexation of the continual repulses ; while 
the too partial usages of society make it optional with him 
to find a resource. 

Again, a jealous man should rather commit suicide than 
matrimony with a handsome woman; for every word spo- 
ken in her favor, and her every glance, action, and inquiry 
that is not the immediate occasion of, will sink like u 
dagger in his heart. 

We shall now record a few remarks on the philosophy of 
making love, which are founded on long study and ample 
experience. 

A word of advice to the lover, who has once been 
truly accepted, and rejected afterwards, through the inter- 
ference of friends. In such cases, if he is determined to 
win, for the sake of love, pride, satisfac ion, or any other 
cause — let him but go to work judiciously, and the day is 
his own in spite of a world of opposition. Woman, for the 
most pait is not fickle, when her affections have been se- 
cured; for, however the threats and admonitions of pa- 
rents, guardians, &c, may discompose or change their cur- 
rents, they will speedily return to their channels, and even 
more securely and deeper than ever. If those whom it 
may concern could only understand the mysteries ot a wo- 
man's heart, they would see the necessity of not interrupt- 
ing its bent, in matters of love, unless under very urgent 
circumstances; and if bachelors could also appreciate the 
nature of the erratic material, they would rather put their 
light arms in the fire, and burn them to their sockets, than 
unite with parents and guardians in endeavoring to coerce 
the affections of a lady in their favor, whose heart had 
been given, and therefore belonged to another. 

Personal beauty is not less essential to a successful con- 
quest, cleanliness, and " A careless comeliness with comity 
care," most unmistakably are. No laby would admire a 
filthy swain, with a bald pate and dirty teeth ; and with a 
gentleman, vice versa. It is decidedly unromantic to press, 
«ven very pretty lips, in the ardor of a kiss, if the ivory 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 25 



they curtain is coated with a yellow encrustation, which 
giver a sewer fragrance to the hreath. A man to be manly, 
must have a luxuriant head of hair, and, in these days of 
patriarehial imitation, a thrifty beard. A lady to look 
wholesome and attractive, must possess an abundance of 
the material with which to make a girlish curl or graceful 
braid. Old age seldom mars the personal charms, if the 
cycle of time has not robbed the individual of his or her 
natural adornments. The handsomest couple we ever saw 
were centenarians, (this is a fact) Let, therefore, he who 
Would win the fair hand of the lady he loves, in addition to 
the following and carefully prepared directions in the vari- 
ous parts of this book, endeavor to show a manly face, a 
cleanly mouth, and an umblemished skin. A female, too, 
should avail herself of every invitation of art to preserve 
those ornaments which the God of nature originally be- 
stowed upon her. 

Some men may imagine that an everlasting fund of small- 
talk is enough to ca tivate any woman in the world ; but 
those persons, when they think they have the field all to 
themselves, are in general, made mere laughing stocks as 
soon as their backs are turned. They are usually kept in 
second-hand favor, however, as useful appendages in a 
walk Or ball-room, and to supply their bantling inamorates 
with the chit-chat of the day. 

Other men think that the secret of making love, lies in 
flattery ; and hence they adminitser the dose so unsparing- 
ly, that it amounts to a surfeit. Flattery is, indeed, a pow- 
erful weapon, when managed with dexterity, but, in the 
hands of a person ignorant of its mysteries, it is worse than 
no weapon at all: as its edge is not unfrequently turned 
against himself. 

Again, there are men who place all their depend*'" 

their own personal appearance ; but these are * ■. 

■, ]• u ij iv ~ „^' sense and 

bodies, who seldom succeed, when any man ,. 

• •'.•! ,i u • c .1 • i «-/<" contending 

spirit thinks the object of their regard W ° 

for. r 



26 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



There is but one general rule for going- to work, and 
that is, in the first place, after you have secured, or even 
partially secured her affections, begin to treat her as her 
conduct may apparently deserve, from time to time. Thus, 
if she becomes occasionally very eloquent in the praises of 
other men for the purpose of tantalizing, you should imme- 
diately begin to expatiate upon the superior qualities of 
some other woman ; if she hints that your visits are trou- 
blesome, leave her to herself for a week" or two ; and if she 
affect to favor the approaches of a rival, the readiest and 
most effectual remedy for' bringing her to her reason, is to 
commence, in seeming, to one of her acquaintances. In 
short, a man, to woo a female coquette, must become a 
male coquette ; for, with such a lady, all the eloquence and 
d votion in the world will stand him less in need than a 
well-directed nonchalence. We would, however, as he 
values his happiness, advise no man to marry a downright 
coquette ; for, however her peculiarities may pass for wit 
or playfulness, the real foundation of them is fickleness and 
dishonesty ; and when she consents to an union, it is in nine 
cases out of ten, the result of pride, spite, or jealousy ; 
and, even, though the latter should predominate at the time 
our word for it, the flame is either ephemeral or of so ec- 
centric a character, that it is seldom directed for twenty- 
lour consecutive hours towards the same focus of attraction. 
Taking everything into consideration, we would rather, of 
the two, trust the honor of a reclaimed votary of pleasure, 
that of a genuine coquette, if they were both placed in an 
equal sphere of temptation. 

We never hear the word dandy used, that we do not 
ponder over its lack of meaning. Gross minded people 1 — 
and there are many such, for whom there appears no ear h- 
ly redemption — imagine that every well dressed, carefully 
" made up " man is a " dandy " and that the term is one of 
opprobrium and reproach. On the other hand, we think it 
a complimentary appellation. We would rather be te/med 
" a dandy " than a "dirty careless fellow," any day in the 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 27 



year. And, after all, the dandies have the lead in all good 
society ! You may be sure that when you meet a company 
of pretty ladies, a dozen or two dandies are very near at 
hand. The dandies have the post of honor at parties, balls, 
the play, and the opera, and on the promenade they are 
always favored with the care of the handsomest and fresh- 
est belles of the day. Take our advice ; and, if you would 
be popular in the light quarters, be a dandy. It is a duty— 
a positive duty — that every individual owes to his or her 
fellow-beings, to look as attractive as possible. Therefore 
patronize the tailor, the bootmaker, the haberdasher, the 
barber, the cosmetician, the dancing master, the jeweler, 
the maker up of " fine linen," the dentist, and the glover, 
as freely as your means will permit. Be sure that those to 
whom you give your patronage are masters of their several 
arts, and pay them ungiudgingly and with liberality, for it 
is by far the cheapest in the end, to pay well for a good 
thing, than to give a small price for an inferior article. We 
do not mean, of course, that there is any virtue in profuse 
and reckless expenditure ; but we do mean that a first rate 
coat is cheaper at $30 than a poor one is at $9. In deal- 
ing with any of the persons above mentioned, give them a 
fair price, one from which they can realize some profit, and 
they will do their best for you. Be niggardly in your offers 
to them, and they will most certainly slight your orders. 

Having said a few words with reference to dandies, let 
us devote a little attention to their counterparts in females. 
These are termed by dandy-haters, " dashing flirts," or 
11 o a y gh'ls,*' <fec, and are stigmatized as persons whose 
judgement is fit only to pass upon dry goods, and whose in- 
tellect can compass toilet affairs only. A serious mistake. 
Your dressy girls must be something of an artist. And if 
she were not a person of refined taste her propensities for 
personal adornment would never have been developed. 
She must have a fine eye for grouping and arranging of 
colors. She must be competent to distinguish the finest 
textures from the mock commodities brought into market, 



28 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



and hence must possess a fair knowledge of commerce and 
manufactures. She must be a lover of nature and alive to 
its beauties. She must be something of a lapidary, too, 
and be capable of distinguishing paste from diamonds. 
Indeed, no woman can be a sufficiently good dresser to 
attract envious remark without possessing a large and use- 
ful share of intellect. 

Now we advise such of our female readers as are not 
" gay flirts," (we use the term flirts here in the sense of 
connecting it with apparel) by nature to take up the trade 
without delay. By study and perseverance they can learn 
to dress as well as the most natural of the "gay flirts. " 
And let them not spare artifices. It is legitimite to adorn 
your houses with the best furniture and trappings you can 
get, and why should you not adorn your person with the 
same degree of care ? In Shakspear's comedy of " Much 
Ado abou Nothing," Ben edict, that most fastidious of Bach" 
elors. and afterwards happiest of married men says : 

" One woman is fair ; yet I am well : another is wise ; 
yet I am well: another viituous; yet I am well: but till 
all graces be in one woman, one woman shall not come in 
my grace. Rich she shall be that's certain ; wise or I'll 
none ; virtuous, or I'll never cheapen her; fair, or I'll never 
look on her; mild, or come not near me; noble, or not I 
for an an°:e! ; of good discourse, an excellent musician ; and 
her hair shall be whatever color it pleases God." 

Let every one of our lady leaders consider that she has 
a Benedict to please, and act accordingly. If she cannot 
realize his ideal of perfection, let her come as near it as 
she can. It will be seen that Benedict chose, for the color 
of his mistress's hair that which " God pleased," or, in 
other words, that which nature had selected. Shakspeare 
was well versed in human nature, and no man ever lived 
that understood the " fitness of things " so well. He com- 
prehended perfectly well, that the hair nature gives us is 
colored to suit the shape of our features, the cast of our 
complexions, the expression of our faces, and the language 



MFDICAL GUIDE. 29 



r topics. We have a preparation — composed entirely 
oriental herbs — that will restore hair to its natural 
color, no matter how grey it is. One of the ingredients is 
largely used by the ladies of a portion of the East to dress 
their hair. It has always operated like a charm. It never 
met with a failure. It also restores hair to bald places, 
and renders it thick and glossy. We will send one bottle 
to any address on the receipt of One Dollar, this sum bare- 
ly covering expenses. Write for " Bazille's Hair Tonic." 
If the hair of your head is red, let it remain so. Do not 
Color it black, for it would notdecieve any body. It would 
look like just what it was — dyed article that had no ap- 
propriate place on your shoulders ; but if it is grey restore 
it to the color that it bore when you were young. 

In order to accomplish our object in writing this bcok, 
we must occasionally descend to the discussion of matters 
that appear frivolous. Do not hastily misjudge and des- 
pise them. Trifles are not to be despised with impunity,, 
for they oftentimes make or mar a human being's destiny. 
We know that all great discoveries and inventions have 
been originated by the merest of trifles, the paltriest of ac- 
cidents. An apple falling, suggested to Sir Isaac Newton 
his invaluable discoveries with regard to the laws of grav- 
itation. The telescope was suggested by the accidental 
placing of a couple of pieces of glass together in an opti- 
cian's shop, and the careless exami ation of them, in that 
accidental position, by a lounging apprentice boy. Tiifles 
form the material of everything vast. The coral reefs and 
is'ands in the seas, are the work of anim^lculee scarcely 
perceptible to the naked eye. The globe itself is formed 
of atoms. 

If you disregard trifles you will never become promi- 
nent or important in any degree, but will vegetate like a 
plant, and die unknown, unloved, and uncared for. Life 
is no trifle, but it is a conglomeration of trifles. Look 
therefors, upon the " day of small things " with a watch- 
ful, an earnest, and a curious eye. A spark flies a train of 



30 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



gunpowder, and blows up a city. A mouse, remember, 
freed, the netted Lion. In all the little details and miuu- 
tise which we are constrained to relate to you, and impress, 
upon your attention, there lurks a great consequence — 
there lingers a gigantic end. It is happiness ; that which, 
to the unreflective and the ignorant, seems an unattainable 
shadow. But there is nothing so easily obtained, if pur- 
sued in the right way, as happiness. The old saying hag 
it, " keep your feet warm, and your head cool, and defy 
the physicians/' There is a volume of truth in this. 
There is an equal amount of substantial truth in our theory, 
viz : preserve your health, acquire money, and make your- 
self as agreeable in looks as care and ingenuity will allow 
you. This will enable you to win and letain the affections 
of the one you adore, and will make you hosts of friends 
besides. What more is requisite to attain perfect content- 
ment. How strange it is that these simple truths, so 
plain and ingenious, that a child can appreciate them to 
their full extent, escape the knowledge of nine-tenths of 
mankind ! How remarkable that the first intimation y. u 
have ever had of their force and value is received from the 
pages of this humble volume : We walk in darkness in 
the midst of light, do we not. 

" Assume a virtue if you have it not." All you want to 
annihilate your bashfulness, is a little confidence. If that 
unfortunately does not find growth in your composition you 
must counterfeit it. One or iwo efforts, and the difficulty 
is all over. If you meet with accidents at the first going 
off, pass them over with an air of ease, as if they were mat- 
ters of no moment, and as if you did not give them a mo- 
ment's thought. By treating them thus cavalierly, and by 
placing so small an estimate upon their worth, you induce 
others to do the same ; for men are imitative as well as 
monkeys'. Practice! yes that's the word! will make the 
most bashful person able, after a while, to endure the gaze 
often thousand eyes without flinching. Instance the case of 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 3J 

the actress who was five years before she could make up 
her mind to face her audience without trembling like the 
oft-mentioned Aspen Tree. 

We will now proceed to specialities, in which we hope to 
convey such information as will enable every one of our 
single friends, old and young-, to get partners at will, 
while we shall instruct persons of every age, in the easiest 
and best methods of preserving the love they may have 
gained in all its original freshness and purity, Our re- 
marks, it must not be forgotten, are intended for the de- 
lectation and benefit of persons of all ages. It will be 
seen by the following report recently made by the register 
of Boston, (where east winds and a peculiar clinmte are 
not especially favorable to the development of amative- 
ness,) that none are too old to marry. The report is inter- 
esting of itself, as it shows at what ages the most marria- 
ges take place. It is a fair criterion to judge other parts 
of the United States by. 

The whole number of marriages in Boston during the 
past year, was 2,855 ; and it appears from tables that the 
favorite period of life at which males select their partners, 
seems to be that between the ages of 21 and 23. The 
number ihat married in 1855, within that period, 1,018. 
nearly 35,65 per cent, of the whole number married. A 
second favorite period is that between the ages of 25 and 
38, when 961, or 33,66 per cent, changed their condition. 
A third period, that between 30 and 40, has many ardent 
lovers, 593, of whom, or 20,77 per cent, took to themselves 
helpmates. 

The favorite matrimonial period for females appear to lie 
between the 20th and the 25th year. It will be observed 
that 1,297, or nearly 45.43 per cent, of the whole number 
of marriages, were consummated during that interesting 
period. The second period is the same as that of the 
males, between 25 and 30. Here 647, 22.66 of the females 
married, have received their hnsbands. The third, is that 
falling below the age of twenty, at which time the goodly 



32 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



number 491 selected their partners. A fourth period — also 
a favorite with the other sex, lies between the sober bound- 
aries of 30 and 40. During this period, 593 males and 
306' females changed their conditions. 

Of the females under 20 years, 31 married men over 30; 
and three obtained husbands i* ho had passed their fortieth 
year. One female between 20 and 25 married a man who 
was upwards of 50, while another of the same age, receiv- 
ed a husband in a man of the mature age of 66 ! j 

Of the marriages of the male, 2,449, or 85-77 per cent, 
were first marriages ; 2,290. or 80,21 per cent, were to 
maidens ; 156 to widows ; and three to those who had been 
widows twice. The number of second marriages was 373 ; 
353 of these were to maidens ; 116 to widows ; and four to 
those who had been widows twice. 

Of the 25 third marriages, 14 were to maidens, 9 to wi- 
dows, and 1 to a widow the second time, and one to a wi- 
dow the third time. There was one fourth, and one fifth 
marriage : The first to a maiden of 30 ; and the other to a 
maiden of 23 ! 

The first marriages of females, r umber 2,559, or 89.63 
per cent, of the whole number. Of these, 2,290 were to 
single males ; 252 to widowers ; and 14 became third 
wives. 

Love Powders. — Apropos to the foregoing, it has oc- 
curred to us, that many of the imitators of our book, to 
whom we have before adverted, and advertized to send an 
all potent love power, to any one foolish enough to invest 
his or her money, for such improbable ingredients. The 
age of sorcery has passed away, and we do not believe our 
reader superstitious or ignorant to such an extent as to be- 
lieve in the existence of a love acquired by any but natural 
and worthy means. Here is a recipe said to be used in 
China and Holland with great success. 

A Love Powder used in China and Holland. 

The hair of a young virgin, calcined 3 oz. 




ftft 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 33 



The down of a youth's chin, (ibid) 4 oz. 

The eyes of toads 1 oz. 

Human marrow 1 dr. 

The stings of queen bees 1 scr. 

Camphor 5 oz. 

Pure gold 1 gr. . 

This powder, pulverized and sprinkled on an enemy's 
premises, is said to cause many calamities. Oast on co- 
quettes, they are compelled to walk in their sleep, and 
suffer torments. 

But our enterprising contemporaries rely mainly on the 
following potent charms, which will be duly sent to any 
one inclosing them a V. 

Powdered Magnesia, 2 oz-, colored with cochineal, and 
perfumed to please the fancy. To be sprinkled on the 
clothing, or in the path of the individual whose love is 
sought. This with the presentation of a plated ring (worth 
at wholesale about three cents), is guaranteed to compel 
the love of any individual male or female where sighs 
which would melt a stone, fail in moving the heart of the 
unworthy object. Our readers will at once perceive the 
resemblance in this case to the juvenile sport of catching 
wiid birds by a timely application of salt to- their extrem- 
ities. 

Disdain all such trifling, and pay proper attention to the 
precepts inculcated in this chapter, and the " Road to Mar- 
riage and True Love ; " is a broad highway in life's journey, 
for all. 



Self-Atmse and its Consequences. 

Prepared for the perusal of both sexes, and espe- 
cially commended to the attention of those whose 
constitutions have been impaired by youthf al ex- 
cesses. 

How truly fearful are the reflections which must arise in 



34 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



the mind of every lover of his race, when reviewing the 
wide-spread and growing evil of self-abuse, which has un- 
happily spread its cankering blight upon many of the fair- 
est daughters and most promising youths of our land. That 
the " way of the transgressor is hard,' 7 is, in many instan- 
ces, too truly recognized by such offenders in after years, 
but the bitterness of remorse is stifled by the reflection, 
that there were none to counsel them in their weakness, 
and sin, that they were not warned by their elders of the 
fearful train of consequences, which would ensue from 
what they considered at the time, a harmless indulgence, 
and found too late, its pernicious effects in a shattered and 
enfeebled constitution. Parents and guardians have much 
to answer for, if from weak and strong minded notions of 
delicacy, they do not instruct those under their charge, of 
the blasting effects of solitary indulgence. The authors of 
this little book trusts that what is here presented, may de- 
ter many from entering this delusive path, and bring back 
the erring to a sense of the duty owing to themselves and 
mankind, from which they have wandered. Of their com- 
petency to advise and treat those whose physical powers 
have become impaired, their diplomas, many years of expe- 
rience and practice, and a study of the system pursued in 
the hospitals of Europe and America, is a guarantee. At- 
tentively puruse the following remarks, be guided by its 
precepts and all may yet be well. 

In approaching this subject as a speciality, we confess a 
considerable degree of mental disturbance. It is a subject 
that has been so frequently dwelt upon in catch-penn> 
books — so adroitly handled by empirics, and so meagerly 
treated by all of the faculty who have designed to give it 
an extra attention, that we feel reluctant to broach it. Yet 
it must be discussed. Humanity bids us not only to speak 
of it, but to do it without fear of being too plain spoken. 
Its importance is greater than thai of any other subject thai 
comes up for medical consideration. Uutil you have ha> 
the experience that has fall n to us, you will not be likely 



i \ 



MEDICAL GUIDE, 35 



to b -lie re that nine-tenths of the young people in this 
country are or have been addicted to the body and soul-de- 
stroying practice of self-pollution. It is indulged in by 
members of hot h sexes ; girls and boys, men and woman, 
are the slaves of this most horrible and most ruinous of 
beastly habits. We do not wish to be misunderstood in 
our denunciations of the horror. It is the vice we so 
strongly denounce, not its pitiable and unfortunate victims. 
Owing to the indelicate modesty that prevai's among pa- 
rents and guardians, and others to whom the control of 
children is given, this subject is never touched upon in the 
presence of the young. There is a latent principle of 
sensualism in everybod *s nature. The infant will un- 
consciously betray this by its actions. The infant grown 
to a reasoning and observing age, will soon imitate what 
it sees, and continue to imitate especially if the act of im- 
itation confers that which is, or seems to be, pleasurable. — 
How careful then should those who have the care of these 
tender plants be to check every lascivious or improper 
word or action in their presence ! Or, what would be still 
more effective, they should prepare them to receive such 
words or actions properly. If boys and girls were taught, 
with the alphabet, that self-pollution, or any other fitting 
action leading to it, or to indulgences and practices, would 
ruin them — would strip the flesh from their bones, would 
make them weak, ugly, sick and hateful, how many of 
them, do you think, would ever become the slaves of the 
habit? Not one in a thousand! Our first care has always 
been concerning a child under our control, to prepare it for 
bad examples of this character, and terrify it from follow- 
ing them. Let parents do this. They will, by adopting 
our advice, save themselves and their offspring " seas of 
trouble," and " mountains of disgrace." 

Self-abuse has been practised as far back as history cat- 
ries us. At one time, among the ancients, it was openly 
and unblushing'y performed. They made no secrets of 
these unnatural debasements, and to this and other beastly 



36 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



practices that figure in the same catalogue, may be attri- 
buted their rapid mental decline, and their ultimate phy- 
sical and political downfall. 

Let us now particularize a few, only a few, diseases in 
the fearful catalogue of the self-pollutionists, — and do you 
give heed to the awful and appalling record. 

Insanity, congestions of all vital parts, hypochondria 
(entailing, or rather embracing over one hundred ;ifflictions, 
known by various names), hysteria, Seminal weakness, 
nightly emissions, sympathetic buboes, swelled testicles, 
hydroeele, brain fever, suppression of urine (le iding often 
to bursting of the bladder), diseased kidneys, worms, 
wasting away of the testicles, shrivelling of the penis, im- 
potence, discharges from the urethra, catarrh, consump- 
tion, loss of voice, blindness, deafness ringing in the ears, 
fits, emaciation, falling sickness, idiocy, destruction of 
speech, almost total failure of memory, giddiness, apoplexy, 
(serous) wasting of the muscles, pains in all parts of the 
body, melancholy, fear, anguish, decay of the spine, horrible 
dreams, nightmares, slow fever, nausea, palpitations, ossi- 
fication of the heart, bursting of the heart, enlargement 
of the arteries, costivenesss, tumors, j-iles, sores, dyspep- 
sia, voiding of festering matter from the fundament, ulcer- 
< tion of the stomach and bowels, complaints of the liver, 
diseases of the spleen, loss of power to have sexual con- 
nection, all sorts of nervous afflictions, (any one of 
which is unceasing torture), inflamations, incapability of 
walking steadily, flightiness, baldness, gray hair, decayed 
teeth, wrinkles, &c, &c, &c. 

There! we have not commenced, and yet see where we 
have got to ! What need to go further? Why stretch 
our list I Is it not enough already, to show that mastur- 
bation >i« more prolific of evil — of misery — of torture — 
than aught eke that can be written about or imagined? 

Have y&u suffered from this terrible cause ? Have you 
Utfwi.tingly fallen into this abominable practice, and made 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 37 



impure both your mind and your ^ody ? Oh, if you have 
— pause before it is too late. Dr. Bostwick says: 

" The patient, by neglect of himself, or from a false 
modesty (which is too common with this class of pa- 
tients), has delayed seeking- for proper medical relief, un- 
til he is completely destroyed. Body and mind are in 
ruins. The generative organs are so wasted as to be en- 
tirely inactive, or so diseased as to secrete but a ropy, thin, 
and glairy fluid, having few or none of the characteristics 
of semen, and which continually flows away from the un- 
conscious victim. He is finally either hurried to a prema- 
ture grave by consumption, epilepsy, or apoplexy; or, in- 
sanity, taking the hopeless form of dementia, has removed 
him fiom his own home to the mad-house. It is safe to 
say, that of all the cases of incurable insanity, a large ma- 
jority are caused by involuntary seminal emissions, or by 
masturbation." 

We cite this, because it tells all we would have you know of 
the ultimate consequences of masturbation in a few words. 
Do you wish to arrive at this hopeless — worse than hope- 
less — stage ? We address even you who are just commen- 
cing to defile your bodies in secret, and by your own hands. 
If you do not wish te arrive at the end of the road above 
described and depicted, stop the habit. 

Hippocrates observed " that the seed of man arose from 
all the humors of his body, and is the most valuable part 
of them." When a person loses his seed (he says in an- 
other place), he loses the vital spirit; so that it is not 
astonishing that its too frequent evacuation should enervate, 
as the body is thereby deprived of the purest of its humors. 
Another author remarks, that " the semen is kept in the 
8eed-vessels until the man mke proper use of it, or noc- 
turnal emissions deprive him of it." During all this time, 
says Dr. Young, the quantity which is there detained, ex- 
cites him to the act of venery; but the greatest part of this 
seed, which is the most volatile and odoriferous, as well 
as the strongest, is absorbed into the blood; and it there 



38 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



produces very surprising changes. It makes the beard, 
hair and nails grow ; it changes the voice and manners, for 
age does produce these changes in animals. It is the seed 
only that operates in this manner, for these changes are 
never met with in eunuchs, or those who have been de- 
prived of their testicles. Can a greater proof of its vi- 
talizing power be shown, than this fact, that one single 
drop is sufficient (under proper circumstances) to give life 
.to a future being? Those, then, who waste their precious 
fluid are truly wretched. Disabled from rendering any 
service either to themselvee or their friends, they drag on 
a life totally useless to others, and a burden to themselves, 
in the midst of that society which, if it could know, would 
despise rather than pity them for their self-inflicted suffer- 
ings. The moralist and legislator will do well, in estimat- 
ing the sources of wretchedness, intellectual perversity, 
and crime, to take into account those habits which tend 
not more to enfeeble the physical constitution of man, 
than to demoralize his springs of action. 

The undue loss of the seminal secretion in a natural 
way, that is, from too frequent intercourse with the other 
sex, is productive of dire evils ; but where resulting from 
8elf-pollution, no language can descr be the nature of those 
sufferings which violated nature is compelled to endure.— 
All the intellectual faculties are weakened ; the man be- 
comes a coward, apprehensive of a thousand ideal dangers, 
or sinks into the effeminate timidity of womanhood; he 
becomes truly hysterical, sighs or weeps upon the slightest 
insult, for want of sympathy with his hypochondriacal 
sensations. Such an one commences the career of inci- 
pient manhood by the abuse of nature's most secret and 
sacred functions, and that a moment when the system is 
incompletely formed, when energy and passion need as yet 
the controlling rule of riper reason. Exclusively absorbed 
by this principle, all the powers of mind and body are 
wasted in delusive enjoyments, in imaginaiy creations; an 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 39 

age of care and anxiety follows, broken only by useless 
and unavailing regrets. 

Under the various forms of this peculiar excitement, but V 
especially in the diseased fancy of the victim of solitary 
vice, we find associated every species of morbid insensibi- 
lity, erratic imagination, and their consequent results, often 
indicated by an indecision of character difficult of compre- 
hension by those who are unacquainted with its cause- 
Waywardness, stuborn self-love, selfishness in every modi- 
fication, or that form of it which requires and would attract 
the anxiety and attention too exclusively upon himself — 
such are often the mental outlines of a character which 
secretly debasing passions have contributed to form. An 
incessant irksome uneasiness, continual anguish, or alter- 
nating with fits of unreasonable and childish merriment, 
depressed or excited without adequate cause — these form 
some of the mental inquietudes connected with the prac- 
tice of masturbation. The evils which arise from self-pol- 
lution may be si t down under six distinct heads: 

First — All the intellectual faculties are weakened, loss 
of memory ensues, the ideas are clouded, the patients 
sometimes fall in o a slight madness; they have an in- 
cessant irksome uneasiness, continual anguish, and so keen 
a remorse of conscience that they frequently shed tears.-— 
They are subject to vertigoes; all their senses, but parti- 
cularly their sight and hearing, are weakened; their 
sleep, if they can obtain any, is disturbed with frightful 
dreams. 

Secondly — The power of their bodies decay; the growth 
of such as abandon themselves to these abominable prac- 
tices, before it is accomplished i* greatly prevented. Some 
can not sleep at all, others are in a perpetual state of 
drowsiness. They are affected with hypochondriac or 
hysterical complaints, and are overcome with the accidents 
J that accompany those grievous disorders — melancholy, 
sighing, tears, palpitations, suffocations, and faintings. — 
Some emit a calcareous saliva ; coughs, slow fevers and 



40 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



consumptions, are chastisements which others meet with 
in their own crimes. 

Thirdly — The most acute pains form another object of the 
patient's complaints ; some are thus affected in their heads, 
others in their breasts, stomach and intestines ; others have 
external rheumatic pains; aching numbness in all parts of 
their body when they are slightly pressed. 

Fourthly — Pimples do not only appear in the face (this 
is one of the most common symptoms), but even suppurat- 
ing blisters upon the nose, the breast and the thighs ; and 
painful itchings in the same parts. One patient complain- 
ed even of fleshy excrescenes upon his forehead. 

Fifthly — The oigang of generation also participate of 
that misery, whereof they are the primary cause. Many 
patients are incapable of erection ; others discharge their 
seminal liquor upon the slightest titillation^ and the most 
feeble erection, or the effort they make when at stool. Many 
are affected with a constant gonorrhoea, which entirely 
destroys their powers, and the discharge resembles foetid 
matter or mucus. Others are tormented with painful pria- 
pism, dysurice, stranguries, heat of the urine, and a diffi- 
culty of rendering it, which greatly torments many pa- 
tients. Some have painful tumors upon their testicles, pe- 
nis, bladder and spermatic chord. In a word, either the 
im racticability of coition, or any deprivation of the geni- 
tal liquor, renders every one imbecile, who has for any 
length of time given way to this crime. 

Sixthly — The functions of the intestines are sometimes 
quite disordered ; and some patients complain of stubborn 
constipations ; others of haemorrhoids, or piles, and of a 
running or foetid matter from the fundament. 

ouch are the sufferings, closely connected with the un- 
natural and perverted enjoyments of the sensualist, alto- 
gether the reverse of that transporting emotion, incidental 
to the caresses of a pure and virtuous affection, which in 
some measute counterbalances the luxurious fatigue conse- 
qnent upon the rational and temperate indulgence. 



MED.ICAL GUIDE. 41 



"Some time since," savs Mary S. Gove Nt-hols, " I be- 
came acquainted wi h a lovely and intellectual young man, 
who was a student in one of our theological seminaries.— 
His health became so poor that he was obliged to leave the 
seminary and return to his friends. I saw him lose his 
reason and become a maniac. I was satisfied, from all the ... 
symptoms in the case, that thig sin was the cause of his' 
wretched condition. He died without recovering his 
reason; and a friend of his who was in the seminary with 
him, told me, after his disease, that he was indeed a victim 
to ' solitary vice.' TJ 

Doctor Valentine, of Marseilles, was attending a lady 
of title for an intermittent fever, which, though several 
times cured, always returned under a regular intermittent 
form, preceded by extremely long-continued shivers. The 
physician several times expressed his astonishment at the 
disease, and ultimately received from his patient an avowal 
that she indulged in this pernicious habit, although she 
was both a wife and mother. 

In the treatment on the dangers of this vice by the phy- 
sician Lausanne, we meet with the following extract from 
a letter of Professor Stehlin, a physician at Bale, in 
Switzerland : " I also know a young lady, about twelve 
or thirteen years of age, who has brought on consumption 
by this detestable habit. Her stomach is large and dilat- 
ed, and she is affected with a discharge and inability to re- 
tain her urine. Remedies have relieved her partially, but 
she is still languishing, and I fear the consequence^.'' A 
full knowledge of the extent to which this sin prevails 
would astonish mankind. It is indeed a pestilence which 
walketh in darkness, because, while it says and weakens 
all the higher qualities of the mind, it so strengthens low 
cunning and deceit, that the victim goes on in his habit 
unsuspected until he is arrested by some one whose prac- 
tised eye reads his sin in the very means which he takes to 
conceal it, or until all sense of shame is forever lost in the 
night of idiocy, with which his day is so early closed. 



42 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



Many a fond parent looks with wondering- anxiety upon 
the puny frame, the feeble purpose, the fitful humors of a 
dear child ; and after trying- all other remedies to restore 
him to vigor of body and vigor of mind, goes journeying- 
from place to place, hoping to leave the offending cause 
behind, while the victim hugs the disgusting serpent close- 
ly to his bosom, and conceals it in his vestment. 

Excessive indulgence in venereal pleasures operates as the 
common cause of partial or total loss of sight. How much 
more speedily and effectively will the habits of the mas- 
turbator produce such a consequence ! All eminent phy- 
•icians who have given the subject their attention agree 
that these habits deaden every sense, and especially the 
sight. The eye is the first outward organ to tell the tale 
against the masturbator. His or her eyes, present dilated 
pupils, irritable and partially inflamed lids, show avoidance 
of the light, and have occasionally a wild stare, and some- 
times a sleepy, dreamy appearance. The physician can 
tell what these significant signs mean, and so can the edu- 
cated man of the world. Do not imagine that, because the 
spectacle-maker and the occulist have failed in doing away 
these defects of the vision and the seeing apparatus, that 
they can not be eradicated. Stop the practice, and write 
to us. Follow our directions implicitly — take our prepara- 
tions as we order them — and in less* time than you will an- 
ticipate, we will restore you to happiness and health. — 
Years of study have we devoted to the purpose of learning 
how to remedy all the terrible effects of masturbation ! We 
will not build you up, as some of the wretches who turn 
your miseries to profitable account, would, with stimulants 
which infuse false stiength for a few days, rnly to leave 
the sufferer more limp, more nerveless, more debilitated, 
more hopeless than ever. Of such practitioners (and they 
swarm in every city) beware. They are plausible, reckless 
as to the lies they tell, and, like Richard III., each has 
a tongue " can wheedle with the devil." Ay, like that 
killer and tyrant, they can " smile, and smile, and murder 
while they smile." 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 43 

Some parents, under this head, have said to us, " Why, 
I never dreamed, until I consulted you to know the cause 
of my bodil and mental wretchedness, that the loss of 
the seminal fluid would injure. I thought that, so long- as 
I had the desire, the emission was solicited by nature, and 
would do good instead of harm." What a strange idea! 
when the desire itself is unnatural, and is produced by un- 
natural manipulations, and a diseased imagination ! What 
these and all similar patients had mistaken for genuine de- 
sire, was morbid and hellish excitability. Such is the con- 
dition in which the self-polluted places his organs of pro- 
creation ! Reflect but an instant — can such a drain upon 
the sensorial energy eventuate in aught but the complete 
ruin (if unchecked) of both the mind and the body? 

We address ourselves to those who are the victims of 
this foul but unfortunate habit, and have never yet sought 
relief. And we also address ourselves, in these pages, to 
those who have found Out the horrible cause of their suf- 
ferings — their tortures — applied to quacks for remedies, 
and been maltreated. We beg all such persons to apply 
to us without fear. They shall be cured — they shall be 
made whole. 

Let us look at some of the effects produced upon the 
poor victim by this constant wasting of the vital fluid; and 
here w will remark, that there are three stages in the di- 
sease produced by involuntary seminal emissions. 

The first stage is that in which the disease is confined 
to the organs of generation, and has produced constitutional 
disturbance. 

The second stage is that in which other organs than 
those of generation are invoked in the disease, produc- 
ing constitutional disturbance which we can readily 
cure. 

The third stage is an aggravation of the second stage, 
the aggravation reaching a degree that no allopath can 
remedy, and that requires all the skill and perseverance 
of the scientific medical practitioner to overcome. 



44 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



The reader's attention is directed to the following des- 
cription of the different stages : 

" The involuntary emissions may occur during both day 
and night. They take place as often as three or four 
times a week, and, not unfrequently, two or three times in 
one night, sometimes with, and sometimes without volup- 
tuous dreams ; though it is probable that the dr< j am occurs 
in all cases, but is at times forgotten. On leaving the 
couch the patient feels very much exhausted, and frequent- 
ly finds that he has perspired much through the night. A 
trembling weakness has seized upon his limbs : he has no 
appetite for the morning meal, to which the healthful appe- 
tite addresses itself with so much good-will. The diurinal 
emissions happen at urinating and at stool ; and in almost 
all patients we find more or less steady dribbling away of 
the semen. In some it is perceptible by palpable drops, 
more or less frequent, and in others by a continual moisture 
of the lips of the meatus urinarius. 

" These are the unconscious losses of the seminal fluid 
in this stage. If these patients attempt to have connection 
women, they have difficulty in entering, as their erections 
are almost always feeble and transient, and their emissions 
too soon ; sometimes before they succeed in penetrating 
into the vagina, sometimes the moment after, with scarcely 
a? y pleasure to themselves and none to the woman, who is 
merely aggravated by this tantalizing operation. It is this 
to which patients refer when they say that ' they can not 
satisfy a woman.' They will sometimes have conscious 
emissions without any erection, or with merely a slight 
erection without any attempt at connection, or without 
self-pollution. A very little excitement — a female bust or 
leg, the touch of a woman's hand, the smell of the perfume 
used by a woman of they are enamored, a lascivious 
painting, or a mere voluptuous thought — will cause an in- 
voluntary, but a conscious loss of semen, without other 
pleasurable sensations than the mere excitement itself— 
The patient, if he practice masturbation, receives little or 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 45 



no pleasure from the emission he procures in this manner, 
and only continues the practice from his fixed habit of thus 
attempting to gratify his insane desires. 

" The mind is often much enfeebled, particularly in 
its powers of concentration, and the memory is much im- 
paired. There is frequent vertigo, and a singing noise in 
the ears. The patient begins to lose his inclination for so- 
ciety and conversation ; the whites of his eyes are frequently 
quite yellow, wander about, and have ' no speculation in 
tliem,' and the whole countenance is somewhat vacant. 
The gait is feeble and irregular, and the patient falters as 
he raises from his chair. He generally loses flesh, and 
feels an uneasiness in the stomach, which suffers from many 
of the symptoms accompaning dyspepsia. He is easily 
startled. The slamming of a <Joor — the firing of a cracker 
— the fall of a book — a sudden touch, or even the passing 
or speaking to him unexpectedly, will cause him to start 
Mike a guilty thing.' Cowardice is a sure consequence of 
masturbation or involuntary seminal emissious. The appe- 
tite is irregular, sometimes poor, sometimes voracious. The 
bowels are also variable in their action, being often con- 
constipated. The protastic portion of the urethra is frequently 
irritable, and sometimes it is very much inflamed ; and there 
is often a thickening, sponginess, orpuffness of the parts im- 
mediately involving the ejaculatory ducts. 

•'The mucous membrane of the vesiculae seminales be- 
comes inflamed and thickened, and the size of these organs 
is increased. The testicles and the spermatic cord are so 
tender as to attract attention when the patient crosses his 
legs, and the semen is much thinner than natural. These 
patients have, very generally, dark spots under their eyes, 
and frequently flushes of heat in their cheeks, particularly 
when in company, and there is more or less palpitation of 
the heart. It may be added, in conclusion, that there are 
some persons who, from their rugged organization and 
great recuperative powers, are able to bear the loss of 



46 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

semen, either involuntary from masturbation, for years, 
without any apparent constitutional injury. 

" In the second stage, as in the first, the pollutions are 
b.lh diurnal, and nocturnal; but by far the greatest and 
most debilitating waste is in that which takes place day 
after day* The nocturnal emissions are copious, and recur 
almost every night, and sometimes three or four times a 
nig lit. So insensible to the usual excitemsnt produced by 
passage of the semen, that the patient has no voluptuous 
dreams, and is astonished and horrified on waking and 
finding himself and bed-clothes saturated by a more copious 
seminal discharge than he was in the habit of emitting 
when in health. The semen is easily absorbed by the 
clothes, and dried up, because it has become thin, watery, 
and effete. But in addition to this loss, he is subject to 
one equally great on every occasion of urinating and de- 
fecating. This also takes place without any consciousness 
on his part and his only knowledge of the fact is from the 
alarming weakness he experiences after passing water or 
going to stool. He is sometimes completely impotent, not 
having the power of erection sufficiently even to attempt 
connection with a woman, if he should desire to do so, 
which, however, is extremely rare with such patients, as 
they are perfectly conscious of their state, and almost dread 
the sight of a female. If the disease has been brought on 
by masturbation, and the practice is persisted, in, which not 
vmfrequently happens, the emmissions give not the slightest 
pleasure or satisfaction, and are often accompanied by a 
disagreeable and disgusting sensation. But, as if the poor 
victim was to be hunted down by the passion he had roused, 
it now and then happens in this stage of the disease that he 
unconsciously commits onanism in his sleep; and so fear- 
ful and deadly a hold has the habit upon him, that he can 
be prevented from this sonambulistic self-pollution only by 
confining his hands to the bed-posts, or in some other way 
which will effectually prevent his manipulation. 

" The mind is absorbed, as much as it can be, by the on© 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 47 



idea of its wretched situation; and the sufferer is haunted 
by the thoughts that his condition and its cause are known 
to the whole world, and that he is pitied or scorned hy 
every person whom he meets. He is often hypochondriac, 
and fearful suggestions of self-destruction ever and anon 
present themselves. The power of mental concentration 
is entirely gone ; and the memory is so feeble, that the patient 
continually forgets what he begins to say, even in reply to 
the enquiries of the physician as to his case. The dimness 
of vision is continual, and so great as to be a material an- 
noyance; and the eye is wandering, or fixed upon the 
ground, never venturing to meet the gaze of another. The 
ringing in the ears, pain in the head and over the eyes, is 
almost perpetual, and sometimes accompanied with partial 
deafness. The heart is the seat of pain, and violent and 
long-continued palpitations. The patient is enfeehled as 
often to be unable to walk more than a few hundred yards 
without stopping to rest. He experiences an insatiable 
desire for sleep, and yet, on retiring, he lies awake for a 
long time, tormented by his troubled reflections, and at last 
falls into an uneasy slumber of short duration, and disturbed 
by horrid dreams. Hard, red pimfiles not unfrequently ap- 
pear on the face, forehead, and body; a ^lack semicircle 
shows itself under the eyes, and the skin is livid and 
clammy. The appetite is either very much impared, or 
very voracious, and the digestion is bad. The patient is 
tormented with flatulency which he cannot control, and 
which, he justly dreads, will render him disgus ing to fill 
in his presence. The bowels are generally constipated, 
obliging him to strain much at stool, thus aggravating the 
irritation of the porstrate and vesiculce seminales, and in- 
creasing the seminal losses. 

" The bladder is irritable, and will retain the urine but 
for a short time; the ureters and kidneys are also inflamed, 
and on post-mortem examination are sometimes found to 
contain abscesses ; and thev are the seat of great pain 
when pressure is made over the intervetebral spaces of the 



48 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



dorsal and lumbar vertebrae or back-bone. The vesiculaa? 
seminales have become indurated, and can be felt to be 
knotty and hard. The testes have dwindled away, and 
the penis has become small, and to the touch conveys a 
cord-like feeling. The spinal marrow is very sensitive 
throughout its whole extent ; the cerebellum is the seat of 
a dull and heavy pain, and there is a great feeling of pres- 
sure upon the brain. Cerebral congestion now and then 
occurs. 

" This stage of the disease is frequently accompanied 
by bronchitis, or a continual catarrh, and is subject to di- 
sease of the rectum and all the tissues near the generative 
organs. 

U It is hardly necessary to say that the functions of ihe 
nervous system are completely deranged. Indeed nervous 
twitchino's of the eyelids, head, and limbs, are occasional 
consequences of long-continued masturbation, of involun- 
tary seminal discharges, and in this case hysteria some- 
times occurs. 7 ' 

Of the third stage little need be said. It embraces 
everything frightful, torturing, and difficult to cure. 

If a person grown to man's estate have an involuntary 
or nocturnal emission once a month, without indulging 1 in 
cohabitation or self-abuse, he need not be alarmed. The 
act is an effort of nature to throw off that which, in some 
constitutions, will secrete superabundantly. If an emis- 
sion occurs oftener involuntarily, then debility exists, and 
impotency is in prospective. If, when the emission occurs, 
vou suddenly awake, and experience a sense of exhausta- 
tion, and feel chilly, beware, and consult a physician with- 
out delay. Either self-pollution or veneral excess will pro- 
duce nocturnal emissions. The semen of an individual 
afflicted in this wise becomes, after a short time, watery, 
thin, sickly odored, and loses its power of impregnating" a 
females ovaries. Here is a description of some of the 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 49 

results of noctujnal emissions, produced by any cause 
ukatever. 

The muscles of the youlh become soft; his body be- 
comes bent ; his gait is sluggish, and he is scarcely able to 
support himself. The digestion becomes enfeebled ; the 
breath fetid ; the intestines inactive ; the excrements 
hardened in the rectum, and producing additional irrita- 
tion of the seminal conduits in its vicinity. The circula- 
tion being no longer free, the youth sighs often; the com- 
plexion is livid, and the skin, on the forehead especially, 
is studded with pimples. The corners of the mouth are 
lengthened; the nose becomes sharp; the sunken eyes, 
deprived of brilliance, and enclosed in blue circles, are 
cast down ; no look of gayety remains — the very aspect is 
ciminal. General sensibility becomes excessive, pro- 
ducing tears without a cause; perception is weakened, 
and memory almost destroyed. Distraction, or absence of 
mind, renders the judgment unfit for any operation. The 
imagination gives birth only to fantasies and fears without 
grounds; the slightest allusion to the dominating passion 
(whatever it may be) produces a motion of the muscles of 
the face, the flush of shame, or a state of despair. The 
wretched being finishes by shunning the face of men, and 
dreading the observation of women. His mind is totally 
stupefied. Involuntary loss of the reproductive liquid 
takes place during the night, and also during the daily 
motions ; and then ensues a total exhaustion, bringing on 
heaviness of the head, singing in the ears, and frequent 
faintings, together with pains, convulsive tremblings, and 
partial paralysis. Should the person troubled in this way, 
and wicked enough to go uncured, have offspring, they 
will most assuredly be puny in body and weakly in mind, 
and will suffer through a miserable life, for the crime, the 
neglect and the meanness of their parent. 

In the first year of the prevalence of the gold fever, we 
sailed for California in a vessel owned by a joint stock 
company, and, after a ten months' voyage, reached the 



50 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



" land of promise. " Having visited London, Paris, Vien- 
fcna, St. Petersburgh, Naples, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and, 
in fact, every city of note in Europe, on professional busi- 
ness, we determined, (al f hough we were in no need of 
seeking either money or medical information ) to see the 
natural wonders of the Pacific countries. ^ A spirit of cu- 
riosity and venture prompted us to make the journey, and 
for the sake of our suffering fellow-creatures we are glad 
su"h was the case. We must say what we have t» say in 
plain, rugged, condensed sentences. To begin and end as 
soo+i as possible, then. 

A man once a doctor, is always a doctor. He can no 
more divest himself of his medical character than of his 
skin, and though he be well-to-do, in a pecuniary point of 
view, and a maker of a resolution to henceforth live for his 
family alone, the force of habit impels him to continue to 
think, study, experiment, and prescribe as long as he 
lives. A retired physician is one of the most restless, mo9t 
lonesome, and mobt dissatisfied beings that, can be imag- 
ined. He feels the want of employment for his mind, and 
although he will not " make calls," he will keep at his 
books, and will rack his brains to discover infallible reme- 
dies for diseases difficult of treatment and cure. 

Among the numerous diseases which are little under- 
stood by the faculty, and misunderstood by all classes of 
people, are those which afflict the nerves, the brain, and 
the genital org ana. These diseases are known by such a 
multitide of names that it would require a larsre volume in 
which to print them. When we were students it struck us 
forcibly, from observation, that the gentlemen who superin- 
tended our class had given up all hope of curing the victims 
of an important share of nervous afflictions — of those es- 
pecially which sprang from sexual excesses, an indulgence 
in destructive solitary habits, neglect of contagions ailments 
of the procreative organs, constitutional debility of rhe same, 
and hereditary weaknesses of the system generally. These 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 51 

victims he would help, but we never beard bim say he had 
restored one to perfect health. After we had graduated, 
we ascertained that not only our instructor, but all the old 
school physicians of eminence, had long tacitly and secretly 
pronounced these diseases incurable ! One old practitioner 
concluded a conversation we had with him upon the sub- 
ject, (which, for reasons best known to ourselves, always 
interested us more than any other,) by saying, " You can do 
nothing for such patients; they are doomed, sirs, doomed! 
They are shattered samples of humanity, sirs; they are 
like blighted trees. All you can do for them is to give 
them temporary relief; stimulate them sirs, get them half 
tipsy, sirs, and ihey think they are getting well, sirs. But 
they are a great bother, at the best, and years have elapsed 
since we would have any thing to do with them !" 

We were ambitious, and we devoted almost all our at- 
tention to these terrible ills. We never stopped searching 
for their remedies, and although we discovered many pal- 
liatives that almost lift the mark, it was not untill we went 
sight-hunting to California that we succeeded, by accident, 

lri finding a CERTAIN, SAFE, AND SPEEDY REMEDY. 

In a beautiful region of the country, about twenty miles 
from Sacramento, we found a small ranche, belonging to 
one of Sutter's men. The owner of this ranche, was 
near eighty years of age, but he was as lithe, as active, as 
clear-minded, as lively, as strong, and as healthy, every 
way, as a man of thirty. "We formed a close intimacy with 
him. In the cource of our conversation he told us that he 
had not consumed a gallon of intoxicating drinks in his 
entire life-time. We at once declared that to be the secret 
of his healthful and delightful longevity. He smiled a 
peculiar smile, and said we were mistaken. Plucking a 
long, delicate, deep-green leaf from a small bush near us, 
he said. *' There, doctors, is the real Elixir of Life. I was 
once at death's door, and this saved me. It has been my 
preserver ever since. I do not know its botanical name, 



52 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



but I have entitled it The Balm of Vitality. I never 
saw it anywhere but here.' 7 

We chewed several of these leaves, according' to his de- 
sire, and found that they had a pungent, aromatic, peppery 
taste, quite unique, and we moreover found that they weie 
n magnificent cxhilarant. A Digger Indian woman, who 
had maintained, for many years, among the members of 
her tribe, the reputation of being a prophetess, first m*de 
known to the old man the wonderful efficacy of these leaves 
in the cure of many diseases — among others that of barren- 
ness, or unfruitfulness of the womb, having administered a 
preparation from this plant, with great success among the 
wives of chiefs, whose affections had been alienated from 
them by their inability to bear children to inherit the here- 
ditary honors of the tribe. After hearing the old man re- 
late this, our own curiosity was strongly excited, and we 
gathered a large quantity, made a strong tincture of them, 
and by mixing this tincture with several other medicines 
which we knew to be good for the class of evils we herein 
speak of, succeeded, after repeated trials and disapoint- 
ments, in making a remedy which comprises one of the ar- 
ticles we use in these complaints. 

We are aware that the leaves of what the old man called 
Balm of Vitality, are not to be had easily, or if they 
are, they are possibly known and sold by some other name. 
Nature is abundant in remedies for all evils. In this Balm 
of Vitality, she has afforded the substance of a cordial 
that will restore vigor, animation, and the perfection of 
good health, to a constitution shatter d beyond all apparent 
hope of recovery. You can not take one Jose of it with- 
out experiencing an entire change for the better. Its cu- 
rative, exhilarating, and invigorating effects, by a persist- 
ence in its use accompanied by our other remedies are 
remb-red permanent. Happiness, strength of mind and 
body, and a renewed hold upon existence, are its mira- 
culous consequences; 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 53 



As to the length of time required for performing a 
complete and, satisfactory cure, that depends upon the na- 
ture of the case — its precise features — its duration — how 
it has been treated, if treated at all — and the age of the 
patient. We can cure a not very bad case in ten days.—' 
The veryworst of cases can be subdued entirely, by our me- 
thod, in three months. Each of those who wish to become 
our patients will, after stating their case as clearly and 
briefly as possible, answer the following questions: 

Are you stout or slender? 

Are you of an excitable or phlegmatic disposition 1 

What is the color of your eyes and hair? 

Wi at is your complexion? 

What is your height ? 

Is your occupation active or sedentary ? 

Are your boicels regular, or costive 1 

What is your age ? 

What is the condition of your priv te organs, as near as 
you know, or feel it your duty to state? 

And you may explain all without reserve, as our lips 
never disclose a patient's secret nor does any eye but our 
own ever glance at our letters. Correspondence is desired 
from all who are inflicted with diseases of any kind or na- 
ture. We will cheerfully answer all vho write us, as we 
make no charge for advice. 

Upon receiving a description of the case of any one so 
afflicted, inclosing $12, or, if too poor to afford this, $10, 
we will send at on* e, by express, a Course of Medicines, 
with ample instructions for use. The packages will surely 
anrl permanen'ly cure all cases. 

Persons living at a distance, who n re suffering under any 
disease of a private nature, may place themselves under 
our treatment by writing to us as above, inclosing the usual 
fee. 

Remember that we charge nothing for advice. All let- 
ters, upon whatever subject, will be patiently and promptly 



54 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



answered. We can cure any case, if the patient will fol- 
low our directions. 

Address :— Dr. R. F. Young & Co., No. 599 Broad- 
way, New-York. 

! Grains of Knowledge. 

FOR THE INFORMATION OF MARRIED & SINGLE. 

It is as well, in order that you may understand this book 
Irt its general scope and bearing 1 , that you make yourself 
familiar with the following items of information. They 
will always prove useful : 

Period of Child-bearing.— Women may be 

ten, eleven, and even twelve months in a certain condition, 
the ignorance whereof, causes much domestic trouble, and 
has occasionally been the means of divorces. On the con- 
trary, full grown children may be born at the end of the 
seventh month after conception, and some say in the sixth, 
or even less, but we doubt them. At least, out of all our ex- 
perience, we never had personal knowledge of a case of 
the sort but one, and then we had our suspicions, grounded 
on various circumstances, apart from the main one, which 
were rather unfavorable to the lady's character. The law 
which rarely, if ever, suffers itself to be guided by excep- 
tions, holds it a proof of illegitimacy, if the period of child 
birth is delayed until the tenth month after the husband 
and wife have lived together. 

Obstructions. — Should any unexpected barriers 
be discoverod to the consumation of the rights of marriage, 
a physician should be consulted without delay. A false 
modesty in such cases, may be productive of the most seri- 
ous consequences. The Duchess de Bern', is a case in 
point. After being married about six weeks, she was on 
the eve of separating from her husband, when one ot tho 



MEDICAL GUIDE, 55 

ladies of the court learned the cause, and prevailed on her 
to consult a member of the faculty, who soon set all to 
rights. However, both the duke and the duchess had 
suffered much through their delay and ignorance. 

The Fruitful Months.— It is estimated that 
the healthiest children are born in February, March, April 
and May. Consequently, May, June, July and August, 
must be the months most auspicious for conception. Tliis 
is merely the popular opinion, but Dubois, La Bache, and 
a skilful writer in Le Temps assert that their experience 
corroborates it. 

Twins* — A female may have twins, the offspring of 
different fathers. Thus, a woman in North America, being 
delivered the same day of a black and white infant, ac- 
knowledged that nine months before she had been on the 
same day with her husband, and a negro slave. In births 
where one child preceeds the other, for one or two months, 
it is fair to suspect adultery ; and, indeed, the infants them- 
selves mostly give evidence of a different maid* parentage. 

Red Haired Women. — Fair haired ladies 
claim to make the most affectionate wives; but he who 
marries a red haired woman would do well not to be re- 
miss in his attentions, for they woo warmly, and expect to 
be warm'y wooed. A French woman with red hair is a 
rare occurrence ; but whenever there is one, love has a de- 
cided votary. 

Marriage and Poetry. — Marriage blunts the 

imagination. A married writer of fiction must hold Hy- 
men in check, or weary his readers; and poetry is almost 
irre -oncilable with the state of wedlock. Schiller observes, 
that one cnnnot woo his wife and the muses ; and there is, no 
doubt, much philosophy in the assumption. Thus it would 
seem that poetry is the escape of love when not otherwise 
directed. 



56 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



IdeRS Of Beauty, — Men of poetical or sanguine 
temperament prefer the beauty of the face. Those of 
stronger animal propensities, the beauty of form. The 
latter makes the most attentive husbands, as they are con- 
tent with the realities of life. 

Habitual Miscarriages.— The force of habit 

is in such women, that when a female once miscarries, she 
will be always liable to miscarry when the same stage of 
pregnancy occurs. The knowl dge of this may produce 
the care which will prevent such a result. 

Tlie HyMCn. — The existence of the hymen in wo- 
man is no certain evidence of Virginity — neither is its ab- 
sence of defloration. Young females may be deprived of it 
by illness ; and has been found in ladies at the time of de- 
livery. Howevei, these are the exceptions, and very rare 
ones. As a general rule, the hymen indicates the maiden ; 
and vice versa; so that a man missing it on marriage, may 
have good grounds for suspecting Lis wife's chastity, un- 
less she can otherwise explain the cause of its absence. 

JNlltritllVe Tubes. — Every animal, from man to 
tho polypi, that clings to the rock, has a nutritive tube 
open at the extremities ! Hence, the sponge, (if an anim-il), 
being differently constructed, may be considered of a lower 
order than polypi. 

Coquetry. — Beware how you marry a confirmed co- 
quet ; for her manners are not so much the result of affecta- 
t.i n as the actual changes of her mind; and her phrenolo- 
gical developments will show that constancy is not her 
nature. Baillie had no doubt, good grounds for sa ing 
that a confirmed coquet would rather have any man than 
her husband, after the first six months of marriage. A 
little well-directed coquetry, however, is the spice of 
courtship. 

Living Bodies. — All living bodies spring from a 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 57 



germ which was part of another being. This rule holds 
good throughout the vegetable and animal kingdom. 

Violation. — Conception can not take place under 
feelings of horror Or disgust. Hence, no woman ever be- 
came pregnant from rape committed on her against her 
inclination. 

For and Against. — Consumption in either sex 
has been corrected by marriage. The chances, however, 
ore in favour of females ; for it has been known to bring 
the decay of men to a hastier climax. 

Cure for Epilepsy. — Marriage is the only cer- 
tain cure for uterine epilepsy. 

Matrimonial Regrets. — Men are liable to re- 
gret their marriage on the morning after its consumation, 
and to sigh for the freedom they have lost. But this is 
only an evanescent feeling, partially attributable to the 
fact, that, at the commencement, the realities of love are 
usually found to be unequal to the anticipations. A week 
corrects this uneasiness, and contentment mostly occurs 
before the end of the honeymoon. 

Effects Of "bad Temper.— Constant bad tem- 
per in a wife will wear away the affections of the most 
devoted husband ; and they can never be renewed ! A 
man of lymphatic temperament, whose nature is difficult of 
excitement, is alone proof to the ceaseless bickering of an 
irritable woman. 

Use Of Cleanliness. — Cleanliness in youth is a 
corrective of puberty. So are meagre diet, light clothing 
and hard beds. 

Difference in the Sexes.— There is a striking 

analogy between the organs of generation in the sexes, the 
chief difference being that they are nearly external in man, 
and all internal in wom?.n. 



58 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



The Eyes, — Soft, languid eyf*9 are an evidence of 
voluptuous, or, at least, of amorous dispositions. In wo- 
men, they assist beauty, and may be the efft ct of a gentle 
and affectionate heart, under the influence of a virtuous 
desire; but, in men, they are effeminate, and, if united 
with a protruding mouth and heav> 1 ps denote a l.bdinous 
disposition, and a want of rnanlv fidelity. 

Color Of the Skin. — The complexion of the skin 
depends on that of the rete mucosum, a glutinous substance 
that lies between the under and outward skin. In blacks, 
this membrane contains an inky fluid, which is ascribed to 
carbon and the increase of bi.ious secretions in hot cli- 
mates. 

Puberty. — At the time of puberty, the blood of both 
sexes t nds towards the parts subservie.it to reproduction, 
which causes these organs to awake from their torpor and 
to expand. 

The Hair. — A profusion of h iir is a s : gn of amor- 
ous disposition, as is also a rough, husky vo ce. When a 
man is castrated, he loses his be a'd, and lis voice grows 
feminine. He is also liable to periodical hemorrhages, like 
the other sex. Likewise, he becomes artful, depraved and 
foolish. 

Iiesem."blanceS. — Children should resemble both 
parents, or there may be a fair doubt of th< j ir legitimacy.-— 
However, notwithstanding the theories of Straus, Guillet 
and Walker, the rule is not imperative ; for we and others 
have s<en infants who, in face or form, bore not the slight- 
est similitude to their female parents, wh ch must be taken 
'as proof positive in the premises. Still, this so rarely oc- 
curs as to be only the exception to the rule. 

SigllS Of Pregnancy. — To an experienced ob 
server, a woman's eye betrays her condition, when she is 
in a certain way before her form cives any manifestations 
of the fact. The symptoms may be partially concealed by 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 59 



the Tge of snuff, which corrects the glassiness of the op- 
tics consequent on the earlier stages of pregnancy. 

Total A"bstemiOUSneSS. — It has beon frequent- 
ly maintained that total abstemiousness from sexual in- 
dulgences, would invigorate the mind and exat the genius. 
Fact3, however, prove otherwise; for persons sworn to 
chastity grow weak in intellect; while eunuchs become 
foo ish. Nevertheless, a man who wishes to distinguish 
himself must not give loose to his sexual passims, for ex- 
cess of indulgences greatly impairs the faculties of the 
mind. Stil., it i< bet er to give way to nature, no matter 
how rashly, if diseases are avoided, than to resist her alto- 
gether. The former only injures ; the latter destroys. It 
was the belief wish a certain school of alchy mists, that he 
only who was perfectly chaste, could discover the philo- 
sopher's stone itself, and could he possibly obtain the ob- 
jects of his desires, it is more than probable he would find 
the stone a dear bargain at the price he paid for it. 

Excesses. — Beware of youthful excesses, for sooner 
or later they have to be paid for. A great English phi- 
losopher truly says, " The debaucheries of youth are so 
many conspiracies against old age. ,, 

On Climate. — Married persons desirous of off- 
spring, and who have i'een disappointed therein, should, 
if they ssek a change of cl mate, choose one colder than 
that which they have been used to. I: need scarcely be 
remarked, that races inha iiing mo erately cold climates 
are more fruitful than those who dwelll in hot climates. — 
There should be but little hope of becoming parents in/ 
persons who cannot accomplish their desire by the aid of * 
warm s imulants, in a cool and bracing climate. 

Causes of Laborious Menstruation.— 

One of the most active causes of laborious or obstructed 
menstruation is disappointment in love, and a transfer of 
the affections would work a cure without any other remedy. 



60 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



Superfluous Menstruation.— Emetics of 

Ipecacuarm and cold sea-bathing are the best remedies for 
this complaint. Either may do — combined they hardly fail 
of being effective. 

On Puberty. — The age of puberty is not, by a uni- 
versal rule, earliest in warm climates. In the inhospitable 
lat tudes of Siberia, for instance, the women of the Mongo- 
lian race, feel its influence in their twelfth year, and a con- 
temporary writer says that they are marriageable at that 
age ; but this is preposterous ; they are no more fit to en- 
counter the duties of married life than a precocious boy, 
who may say smart things in the drawing-room, is qualified 
to undertake the multifarious and practical duties of man- 
hood. The same may be said of the Esquimaux women, 
the women of Lapland, and indeed, of the inhabitants 
generally of polar regions, which is attributed ^>y some 
authors to the smallness of their statue and fish diet. But 
this argument is easily set aside, for the same precocity 
exists throughout all the varieties of the Mongolian race — 
whether thay reside in warm or cold climates, are short 
and tall, or live on fish, vegetable or animal diet. What 
then is the cause of this early precocity? we are unable to 
answer. But from the excessive development of the vital 
system of the north-eastern people, and their peculiarly 
voracious appetite, we are inclined to think that it lies in 
the admitted fact of their being the least intellectual, itnd 
consequently, most animal of the human family. 

A writer of some note, though visionary in many specu- 
lations, says — " In taking a general view of the period of 
puberty, it appears that, in Europe, women reach it later 
in the north than in the south. In some elevated northern 
regions, it does not occur until after twenty years of age. 
In England, it occurs from fourteen 10 sixteen in girls, and 
from sixteen to eighteen in boys. In most parts of France, 
puberty, in wowen commences usually at fourteen years of 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 61 



age, and in the southern departments and great towns, at 
thirteen. In Italy it takes place at twelve. This is also 
the case very generally with the. Spanish women, and in 
Cadiz they very often marry at that age. In Persia, ac- 
cording to the Chardin, it occurs at nine or ten. Nearly 
the same is the case in Arabia, Barbary, Egypt, Abyssina, 
Senegal, and various parts of Africa. Thus, puberty in 
women commences generally in tropical climates from 
nine to ten.*' But still, no matter how eaily it may com- 
mence, or in what climate, the des ; res it creates cannot 
be gratified without injury to the health, until! all the other 
parts of the system have a corresponding development, 

Period of Gestation. — It is impossible that a 

mature child can be born before the seventh month after 
conception. The maturity, however, should be amply proved 
before a child born within the seventh month should be 
considered legitimate. And this cannot be ascertained by 
the weight, for some healthy children weigh but eight, 
while others weigh eighteen pounds when they come into 
the world. 

Suckling. — A feeble woman should not suckle her 
infant, or it will partake of her own debilatii.ion. Lowness 
of spirits, passion, etc., have corresponding effects on the 
milk, and consequently must make it innutritious. 

Exercise. — Too much rest during pregnancy is in- 
jurious to both mother and child. Hence, ladies so cir- 
cumscribed should be as active as at other times, and take 
«*s much moderate exercise in the open air as they can. 

Strengthening Milk.— Porter milk is the 
|3trongest that a child can he suckled on; but it is apt to 
make them sleepy and peevish on being disturbed. The 
(forte will also be advantaged by a moderate allowance of 
I bottled porter. 

The best Nurse. — Hartsocker contended that a 



62 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



child would thrive better on his mother's milk than that of 
a stranger. Natural, however, as this may seem, I can not 
6ay that it is borne out by facts. 

Dift. — Milk diet, though it enriches the blood, modor 
ites the desires. It might be advantageously adopted by 
married persons of warm dispositions, who can not have- 
offspring ; and which is the usual result, in such cases of 
intensity of enjoyment ; violent love is but rarely fruittul 
love. 

Consummation. — Man is the active and woman 
passive agent in the consummation of marriage, the latter is 
supposed to enter more fully into the intensity of its enjoy- 
ment. This, however, is an hypothesis which can never 
be clearly demonstrated. 



Prevention of Conception. 

Absolute Necessity of Prevention in Certain Cases 
Considered.— Its effects beneficial in producing a. 
higher degree of morality. 

The subject of prevention of pregnancy is one which 
has excited much attention in the minds of medical men. 
Many treatises have been put forth on this subject, and 
many maans of prevention assested to have been dis- 
covered. 

That such means may be lawfully used, and to serve the 
cause of humanity, it is our purpose, in these remarks, to 
show. Some females are so constituted that they cannnot 
give birth to living children. Others even if they be safrly 
delivered of children, transmit to their offspring the flints 
of disease, and usher them into what will prove to them, 
if they live, a world of sorrow and misery. Of such it 
may be said, it were truly better they had never been born. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 63 

Otheri again, from malformation, cannot give birth to 
children at all, except through the surgeon's intervention, 
by a piece-meal extraction of the infant from the womb of 
the tortured mother, and fortunate if she survives the ope- 
ration. 

Others, ngain, experience constant dread, and suffer in- 
tense agonies of body and mind during the time of preg- 
nancy, through fear of the sufferings attendant on confine- 
ment. All do not suffer alike ; and to, females of delicate 
frame and extreme susceptibility, this period is fraught with 
most intense anguish. Life, under such circumstances, is 
not enjoyed. How can a man expect the partner of his 
bosom to meet him with the welcome smile and caress, 
when her mind is full of fearful forebodings, destructive 
alike to her mental and physical well-being ? Can her 
husband look on her with callous indifference, knowing 
this to be the case 1 Will he not reflect on the means 
whereby this s'ate of things may be averted ? Surely, if 
he be a rational, humane, and sight-thinking man, he must 
seek out a mode for the prevention of pregnancy, and 
therefore will hail with delight the information here pre- 
sented, that a mode of prevention hus been discovered, 
which is perfectly safe and effectual, as well as preserva- 
tive of health. 

This subject has been well argued by a French physio- 
logical writer of great merit, and many objections, likely 
to be urged by hypocrites and canting moralists, are fully 
and forcibly answered. " What," he asks, '■ would be the 
probable effect in social life, if mankind obtained and ex- 
ercised a control over the instinct of reproduction ? My 
settled conviction is — and I am prepared to defend it — that 
the effect would be salutary, moral, civilizing ; that it would 
polish the manners and improve the moral feelings ; that 
it would relieve the burden of the poor and cares of the 
ri ".h ; that it would most essentially benefit the rising gene- 
ration, by enabling parents generally more carefully to edu- 



64: THE MAGIC WAND AND 



cate, and more comfortably to provide for, their offspring. 
I proceed lo substantiate as I made these positions. 

" And first, let us look solely to the situation of married 
persons. Is it not notorious, that the families of the mar- 
ried often increase beyond what a regard for the young 
beings earning into the world, or the happiness of those 
who g"ve them birth, would dictate ? In how many in- 
stances does the hard-working father, and more especially 
the mother, of a poor family, thus remain slaves through- 
out their lives, tugging at the oar of incessant labor, toil- 
ing to live, and living but to toil ; when, if their offspring 
had been limited to two or three only, they might have en- 
joyed comfort and comparative affluence? How often is 
the health of the mother, giving birth every year to a. in- 
fant — happy if it be not twins ! — and compelled to toil on, 
even at those times when nature imperiously calls for some 
relief from daily drudgery — how often is the mother's 
comfort, health, nay her life, thus sacrificed! Or, if care 
and toil have weighed down the spirit, and, at la«t broken 
the health of the father, how often is the widow left, unable, 
with the most virtuous intentions, to s ve her fatherless 
offspring from becoming degraded objects of charity, or 
profligate votaries of vice ! 

" Fathers and mothers ! not you who have your nur-ery 
and i ursery.maids, and who leave your children at home, 
to frequent the crowded rout, or to glitter in the hot ball- 
room ; but you. by the labor of whose hands your children 
are to live, and who, as you count their rising num'/< rs, 
sigh to think how soon sickness or misfortune may lessen 
those wages wh'ch are now but just sufficient to afford them 
bread ; — fathers and mothers in humble life ! to you my 
argument comes home with the force of reality. Others 
may impugn — may ridicule it. By bitter experience you 
know aud feel its truth. 

" Yet this is not all. Every physician knows that there 
are many women so constituted that they cannot give birth 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 65 



to healthy — sometimes not living- children. Is it desirable, 
is it moral, that such women should become pregnant ? — 
Yet this is continually the case, the warnings of the phy- 
sicians to the contrary notwithstanding. Others there are 
who ought never to become parents ; because, if they do, 
it is only to transmit to their offspring grievous hereditary 
disease; perhaps thai worst of diseases, insanity. Yet they 
will not lead a life of celibacy. They marry. They be- 
come parents, and the world suffers by it. That a human 
being should give birth to a child, knowing that he trans- 
mits to it hereditary disease, is in my opinion, an immoral- 
ity. But it is a folly to expect that we can ever induce all 
such persons to live the life of Shakers. Nor is it neces- 
sary ; all that duty requires of them is to refrain from be- 
coming parents. Who can estimate the beneficial effects 
which rational moral restraint may thus have on the health, 
beauty, and physical improvemeits of our race, through- 
out future generations? 

" But, apart from these latter considerations, is it not 
most plainly, incontrovertably desirable that parents should 
have the power to limit their offspring, whether they choose 
to exercise it or not? Who can lose by their having this 
power ? And how many may gain competency for them- 
selves, and the opportunity carefully to educate and provide 
for their children ? How many may escape the jarrings, 
the quairels, the disorder, the anxiety, which an overgrown 
family too often causes in the domestic circle? Every ra- 
tional beingf, surely, must admit, that the power of pre- 
venting, without injury or sacrifice, the increase of a fami- 
ly, under such circumstances, is a benefit and a blessing. 

" Will it be asserted — and I know no other even plaus- 
ible reply to these facts and arguments — will it be asserted, 
that the thing is, in itself, immoral and unseemly ? I deny 
it; and I point to the popula'ion of France, in justification 
of my denial. Where will you find, on the face of the 
globe, a more polished or more civilized nation than the 



66 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



French, or one more punctiliously alive to any rudeness, 
coarseness, or indecorum ? You will find none. The 
French are scrupulous on these points to a proverb. Yet, 
as every intelligent traveler in France must have remarked, 
there is scarcely to be found, among the middle or upper 
classes (and seldom even among the working classes), 
such a thing as a large family ; very seldom more thai 
three or four children. A French lady of the utmost deli- 
cacy and respectability will, in common conversation, sa} 
as simply — (ay, and as innocently, whatever the self-r'ght- 
eous prude may avert to the contrary) — as she would prof- 
fer any common remark about the weather: ' I have three 
children ; my husband and I think that is as many as we 
can do justice to, and I do not intend to have any more.' " 

" We have stated notorious facts, facts which no traveler 
who has visited Paris, and seen anything of the domestic 
life of its inhabitants, will attempt to deny. However he- 
terodox, then, our view of the subject may be in this 
country, we are supported in it by the opinion and the 
practice of the most refined and most socially cultivated 
nation in the world. 

" Will it still be argued, that the practice, if not coarse, 
is immoral ? Aga : n, we appeal to France. We appeal to 
the details of the late glorious revolution, — to the innu- 
merable instances of moderation, of courage, of honesty, 
of disinterestedness, of generosity, of magnanimity, dis- 
played on the * memorable three days,' and ever since ; 
and we challenge comparison between the national charac- 
ter of France for virtue, as well as politeness, and that of 
any other nation under heaven. 

" It is evident, then, that to married persons, the power 
of limiting their offspring to their circumstances is most 
desirable. It may often promote the harmony, peace and 
comfort of families ; sometimes it may save from bank- 
ruptcy and ruin, and sometimes it may rescue the mother 
from premature death. In no case can it, by possibility, be 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 67 

worse than superfluous. In no case can it be mischiev- 
ious. 

*' If the moral feelings were carefully cultivated, if we 
were taught to consult, in everything, rather the welfare of 
those we love th iii our own, how strongly would those ar- 
guments be felt? No man ought even to desire that a 
woman should become the mother of his children, unless 
it was her express wish, and unless he knew it to he for 
her welfa e, that it should. Her feelings, her interest, 
should be for him in this matter an imperative law. She 
it is who benrs the burden, and therefore with her also 
should the decision rest. Surely it may well be a question 
whether it be desirable, or whether any man ougVr to ask, 
that the whole life of an intellectual, cultivated woman, 
should be spent in bearing a family of twelve or fifteen chil- 
dren, to the ruin, p rhaps, of her constitution, if not to b3 
the over-stocking of the world. No man ought to require 
or expect it 

" But we pass from the case of married persons to that of 
young men and women who have yet formed no matri- 
monial connection. 

" In the present stUe of the world, when public opinion 
stamps with opprobrium every sexual connection which 
has not received the orthodox sanction of an oath, almost 
all voting persons, on reaching the age of maturity, desire 
to marry. The heart must be very cold, or very isolated, 
that does not find some object on which to bestow its 
affections. Thus, early marriages would be almost uni- 
versal, did not prudential considerations interfere. The 
young man thinks, ' I must not marry yet. I can not sup- 
port a family. I must make money first, and think of a 
matrimonial settlement afterwards.' 

" And so he goes to making money, fully and Sincerely 
resolved in a few years to share it with her whom he now 
loves. But passions are strong and temptations great. 
Curiosity, perhaps, introduces him into the company of 



68 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



those poor creatures whom society first reduces to depen- 
dence on the most miserable of mercenary trades, and then 
curses for what she has made them. There his health and 
his moral feelings alike are made a shipwreck. The affec- 
tions he had thought to treasure up for their first object, 
are chilled by dissipation and blunted by excess. He 
scarcely retains a passion but avarice. Years pass on — 
years of profligacy and speculation — -and his first wish is 
accomplished; his fortune is made. Where now are the 
feelings and resolves of his youth ? 

4 " Like the dew on the mountain, 

Like the foam on the river, 
Like the bubble on the fountain 
They are gone — and forever?'" 

u He is a man of pleasure — a man of the world. He 
lau°:hes at th • roman, e of his youth, and marries a fortune. 

If gaudy equipages and gay parties confer happiness he 
is happy. But if these be only the sunshine on the stormy 
ocean below, he is a victim to that system of morality which 
forbids a reputable connection until the period when pro- 
vision has been made for a large, expected family. Had he 
married the first object of his choice, and simply delayed 
becoming a father until his prospects seemed to warrant it, 
how different might have been his lot! Until men and wo- 
men are absolved from the fear of becoming parents, 
except when they themselves desire it, they will never form 
mercenary and demoralizing connections, and seek in dis- 
sipation the happiness they might have found in domestic 
life. 

"f I know that this, however common, i» not a univesal 
case. Sometimes the heavy responsibilities of a family are 
incurred at all risks ; and who shall say how often a life of 
unremitting toil and poverty is the consequence ? Some- 
times — if even rarely — the young mind does hold to its re- 
Solves. The youth plods through years of cold celibacy 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 69 

and solitary anxiety, happy, if before the best hours of life 
are gone, and its warmest feelings withered, he may return 
to claim the reward of his forbearance and of his industry. 
But even in '.his comparatively happy case, shall we count 
for nothing the years of ascetical jsacrifice at which after- 
happiness is purchased ? The days of youth are not too 
many, nor its affections too lasting. We may, indeed, if a 
great object require it, sacrifice the one and mortify the 
other. But is this in itself desirable ? Does not wisdom 
tell that such sacrifice is a dead loss — to the warm-hearted 
often a grievous one ? Does not wisdom bid us tempera- 
tely enjoy the spring-time of life, ' while the evil days come 
not, nor the years draw nigh ' when we say, ' we have no 
pleasure in them? " 

" Let us say, then, if we will, that had the \oufh who 
thus sacrifices the present for the future, choosen wisely 
between two evils, profligacy and aceticism. This is true. 
But let us not imagine the lesser evil to be a good. It is 
not good for man to be alone. It is for no man's or wo- 
man's happiness to be condemned to Shakerism, It is a 
violence clone to the feelings, and an injury to the charac- 
ter. A life of rigid celibacy, though infinitely preferable 
to a life of dissipation, is yet fraught with many evils. — 
Peevishness, restlessness, vague longing* and instability of 
character, are among the least of these. The mind is un- 
settled, and the judgment warped. Even the very instinct 
which is thus mor'.ified assumes an undue importance, and 
occupies a poition of the thoughts which does not of right 
or nature belong to it, and which, during a life of satisfied 
affection, it would not obtain. 

"Thus, inasmuch as the scruple of incurring heavy re- 
sponsibilities deters from forming good moral connections, 
and encourages intemperance ami prostitution, the know- 
ledge which enables man to limit his offspring would, in 
the present state of things, save much unhappiness, and 
prevent many crimes. Young persons sincerely attached 



70 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



to each other, and who might wish to marry, would marry 
early ; merely resolving not to become parents until pru- 
dence permitted it. The young man, instead of solitary 
toil or vulgar disposition, would enjoy the society and the 
assistance of her he had chosen as his companion; and 
the best years of life, whose pleasures never return, would 
not be squandered in riot, or lost through mortification. 

"Our readers will remark, that all the arguments we 
have hitherto employed apply strictly to the present order 
of things, and the present laws and system of marriage. — 
No one, therefore, need to be a moral heretic on this sub- 
ject to admit and approve them. The marriage laws might 
all remain forever as the are, and yet a moral check to 
population would be beneficial and important. 

"But there are other cases, it Y ill he said, where the 
knowledge of a preventive would be misch^vious. If young 
women, it will be argued, were absolved from the fear of 
consequences, they would rarely preserve their chastity.-— 
Unlegalized connections would be common, and seldom de- 
tected. Seduction would be facilitated. Let us dispas- 
sionately examine this argument. 

" Here, let me ask, what is it gives to the arts of se- 
duction their sting, and stamps to the world its victim ?-— 
Why is it, that the man goes free and enters society again, 
almost courted and applauded for his treachery, while the 
woman is a mark for the finger of reproach, and a butt 
for the tongue of scandal? Because she bears about her 
the mark of what is called her disgrace. She becomes a 
mother; and society has something tangible against which 
to direct its anathemas. Nine-tenths, at least, of the mi- 
sery and ruin which are caused by seductions, even in the 
present state of public opinion on the subject, result from 
cases of pregnancy. If the little being lives, the dove in 
the falcon's claws is not more certain of death, than we 
may be that society will visit, with its bitterest scoffs and 
reproaches, the bruised spirit of the mother, and the un- 
conscious innocence of the child. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 71 



If, then, we cannot do all, shall we neglect a part ? If 
we cannot prevent every misery which man's selfishness 
and the world's cruelty entail on a sex which it ought to be 
our pride and honor to cherish and defend, let us prevent 
as many as we can. If we cannot persuade society to re-* 
voke its unmanly and uncharitable persecution of those who 
are often the best and gentlest of its members, let us, at 
the least, give to woman what defence we may against its 
violence. 

" "We appeal to any father, trembling for the reputation 
of his child, whether, if she were indeed to form an unle- 
galized connection, her pregnancy would not be a frightful 
aggravation ? We appeal to him, whether a preventive, 
wliich shall save her from a situation, which must soon 
disclose ail to the world, would not be an act of mercy, of 
charity, of philanthropy ? — whether it might not save him 
from despair, and her from ruin ? The fastidious conformist 
may frown upon the question, but to the father it comes 
home ; and, whatever his lips may say, his heart will ac- 
knowledge the soundness and the iorce of the argument it 
conveys. 

" It may be, that sticklers for morality will still demur 
to the positions we defend. They will perhaps tell us, as 
the committee of a certain society in this city lately did, 
that the power of preventing conception ' holds out induce- 
ments and facilities for the prostitution of their daughters, 
their sisters, and their wives/ 

"Trily, but they pay their wives, their sisters, and their 
daughters, a poor complement ! Is, then, this vaunted 
chas'.ity a mere thing of circumstance and occassion ? Ij 
there but the differences of opportunity between it and 
prostitution ! Would their wives, and their sisters, and 
their daughters, if once absolved from the fear of offspring, 
all become prostitutes, and sell their embrace for gold, and 
descend to a level with the most degraded? In truth, but 
they slander their own kindred : they libel their own wives, 



72 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



sisters, and daughters. If they spoke truth — if fear were 
indeed the only safeguard of their relatives' chastity, 
little value should we place on virtue like ihat! and 
small would we esteem his offence who should attempt 
to seduce it. 

" That chastity which is worth preserving is not the 
chastity that owes its birth to fear and to ignorance. I to 
enlighten a woman regarding a simple physiological fact 
will make her a prostitute, she must be especially predis- 
posed to profligacy. But it is a libel on the sex. Few, 
indeed, there are who would continue so miserable and de- 
grading a calling, could they but escape from it. For one 
prostitute that is mnde ly inclination, ten are made by 
necessity. Reform the laws — equalize the comforts of so- 
ciety, and you need withhold no knowledge from your 
wives and daughters. It is want, not knowledge, that 
leads to prostitution. 

44 For ourselves, we would withhold from no sister, or 
daughter, or wife of ours, any ascertained fact whatever. 
It should be to us a duty and a pleasure to communicate to 
them all we knew ourselves ; and we should hold it an 
insult to their understandings and their hearts to imagine 
that their virtue would diminish as their knowledge in- 
creased. Vice is never the offspring of just knowledge; 
and they who say it is, slander their own nature. Would 
we but trust human nature, ins' ead of continually suspecting 
it, and guarding it by bolts and bars, and thinking to make 
it very chaste by keeping it very ignorant, what a different 
world we should have of it! The virtue of ignorance is a 
sickly plant, ever exposed to the caterpiller of corruption, 
liable to be scorched and blasted even by the free light of 
heaven; of precarious growth; and even if at last artifi- 
cially matured, of little or no real value. 

" We know that parents often think it right and proper 
to withhold from their children — ^specially from their 
daughters — facts the most influencial on their future lives, 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 73 

and the knowledge of which is essential to every man and 
woman's well- eing. Such a course has ever appeared to 
us ill-judged, and productive of very injurious effects. A 
girl is surely no whit he better far believing until her mar- 
riage night, that children are found among the cabbage- 
leaves in the garden. The imagination is excited, the 
curiosity kept, continually on the stretch ; and that which, 
if simply explained, would have been recollected only as 
any other physiological phenomenon, assumes all the rank 
and importance and engrossing interest of a mystery. Nny, 
we are well convinced, that mere curiosity has often led ig- 
norant young people into situations, from which a little 
more confidence and openness on the part of their parents 
and guardians would have effectually secured them. 

" There are other considerations connected with this 
subject which farther attest the social advantages of the 
control we advocate. Human affections are mutable, and 
the sincerest of moral resolutions change. Every day fur- 
nishes instances of alienations, and of separations ; some- 
times almost before the honey-moon is well expired. In 
such cases of unsuitabiiity, it cannot be considered des- 
irable that there should be offspring; and the power of re- 
fraining from becoming parents until intimacy had, in a 
measure, established the likelihood of permanent harmony 
of views and feelings, must be confessed to be advanta- 
geous. 

"It would be impossible to meet every argument in de- 
tail which ingenuity or prejud ce might put forward. If 
the world were not actually afraid to think freely, or to 
listen to the suggestions of common sense, three-fourths of 
what has already been said would be superfluous : for most 
of the arguments employed would occur spontaneously to 
any rational, reasoning being. But the mass of mankind 
have still, in a measure, every thing to learn on this sub- 
ject. 7"he world seems to us much to resemble a company 
of gourmands, who sit down to a plentiful repast, first very 



74 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

punctiliously saying grace over it ; and then, under tb« 
sanction of the priest's blessing, think to gotge themselvef 
with impunity ; as conceiving, that gluttony after grace is 
no sin. So it is with popular customs and popular morali- 
ty ; every thing is permitted, if external forms be but res- 
pected. Legal rogery is no crime, and ceremony-sanction- 
ed excess no profligacy. The substance is sacrificed to the 
form, the virtue to the outward observance. The world 
troubles its head little about whether a man be honest or 
dishonest, so he knows how to avoid the penitentiary and 
escape the hangman. In like manner, the world seldom 
thinks it worth while to enquire whether a man be tem- 
perate or intemparate, prudent or thoughtless. It takes 
especial care to inform itself whether in all things he con- 
forms to the orthodox requirements; and if he does, all is 
right. Thus men too often learn to consider an oath an 
absolution from all subsequent d cencies and duties, 
and a full release from all responsibilities. If a husband 
maltreat his wife, the offence is venal ; for he premised it 
by making her at the alter an ' honest woman.' If a mar- 
ried father neglects his children, it is a trifle; for grace 
was regularly said before they were born. 

" With such a world as this it is a difficult matter to 
reason. After listening to all we have said, it may per- 
haps cut us short by reminding us that nature herself de- 
clares it to be right and proper that we should reproduce 
our species without calculation or restraint. We will ask, 
in reply, whether nature also declares it to be right and 
proper that, when the thermometer is at 96°, we should 
drink greedily of cold water, and drop down dead in the 
street? Let the world be told, that if nature gave us our 
passions and propensities, she gave us also the power 
wisely to control them ; and that, when we hesitate to 
exercise that power, we descend to a level with the 
brute creation and become the sport of fortune — the mere 
slaves of circumstance. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 75 



"It now remains, after having spoken of the desirability 
of obtaining - control over the instinct of reproduction, to 
speak of its -practicability, 

"We have taken great pains to ascertain the opinions 
of the most enlightened physicians of Great Britain and 
France on this subject, (opinions which popular preju- 
dice will not permit them to offer pir licly in their works) ; 
and they ail concur in admitting, what the experience of 
the French nation positively proves, that man may have a 
perfect control over his instinct ; and that men and wo- 
men may without any injury to health, or the s ightest vi- 
olence done to the moral feelings, and with but small dimi- 
nution to the pleasure which accompanies the gratification 
of the instinct, refrain at will from becoming parents. It 
has chanced to us, also to win the confidence of several 
individuals, who have communicated to us, without reserve, 
their own experience: and all this has been corroborative 
of the same opinion. 

" However various and contradictory the different theo- 
ries of generation, almost all physiologists are agreed, that 
the entrance of the sperm itself (or of some volatile par- 
ticles proceeding from it) into the uterus must precede 
conception. This it was that probably first suggested the 
possibility of preventing conception at all." 

We have quoted these extracts as presenting sound and 
substantial reasons for the prevention of pregnancy. A 
large volume might be written upon the subject, without 
exhausting the objections which might be foolishly raised 
against it, as well as setting forth the real benefits conferred 
thereby upon woman, and the propagation only of healthy, 
well-formed children, by parents with adequate means for 
their support. To sum up the argument why pregnancy 
should be prevented, the reason adduced would seem to 
be conclusive, in a moral, social and physiological point of 
view. 

Morally. — Firstly. It induces early marriages, by 



76 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



removing the principal obstacle thereto, viz. : the fear of 
having offspring before the parents are in a pecuniary con- 
dition to support, rear and educate them. And, 

Secondly. By inducing early marriages, seductions 
would become less frequent, and consequently prostitution, 
comparatively, become extinct. 

Socially. — Firstly. Young men, instead of seeking 
excitement and amusement in the intoxicating cup, gam- 
ing, night carousals, brothels, etc., acquiring habits of dis- 
sipation, deadening alike to the keen, fresh susceptibilities 
belonging to youth — habits, too, which often cling to them 
in after life, habits which, perhaps, forever destroy tneir 
health — as tainting their constitution with some foul and 
incurable disease — would, with a view tp early marriage, 
cultivate the social and domestic ties, while yet pure and 
uncontaminated by contact with the dissolute and vicious. 
And, 

Secondly. Young persons, even though with very limited 
mean*, nevertheless marry, and, by not becoming parents, 
be enabled, unitedly, to husband their resources, with the 
view to the bettering their condition pecuniarily; in the 
mean time, and in the days of their youth, enjoying all 
those social endearments which each sex finds in the so- 
ciety of the other, where reciprocity of views, interests 
and feelings exists. So, too, those in middling circum- 
stances would marry early, merely deferring an increase of 
family until they will have established themselves in some 
business, ere the constant accumulating expenses of an in- 
creasing family encroaches upon, or eat up their small ca- 
pital, the immediate incurrence of which thus early would, 
perhaps, forever destroy the means f>r the comfortable 
provision of themselves, as also the future welfare of their 
children. 

Physiologically. — By inducing early marriages, 
the dire evils arising from promiscuous sexual intercourse 
with the tainted or diseased, will gradually disappear, and 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 77 



in a genet ation or two we would find springing up, in tha 
place of the present sickly, puny race, a healthy, robust 
and pure generation. 

In regard to the morality of preventing conception, ft is 
contended that everything which tends to the amelioration 
of mankind, to improve their condition pecuniary, cannot 
be immoral. That the instinct of reproduction should be, 
like our other appetites and passions, subject to the con- 
trol of reason : that when the gratification of this instinct 
results in evil effects, either to ourselves or our offspring, 
or even to society, if such evil can be prevented, it is ti.e 
obligation of morality that it should be. 

It is contended, again, that the use of a preventive to 
conception will make men and women rational, reflecting, 
thinking beings, regardful alike of their own welfare and 
the w lfare of their offspring. That it will banish poverty, 
vice and profligacy, by enabling the poor to improve their 
pecunary condition, and thus engendering habits of frugal- 
ity, reflection and economy, which the prospect of future 
competency is so calculated to inspire. Vice, 80 often 
springing from despair and hopeless poverty, will disapear, 
because the children, by reason of the competence and 
moral structure of the parents, will not in infancy be thrust 
upon the world, to mingle with the depraved and l ; centious. 
Srxual p ofligacy and licentiousness will be checked as 
early marriages become more prevalent and universal, os 
there then will exist no reasons, as how, why two persons, 
attached to each other, should not marry, refraining merely 
from becoming parents. Dishonorable advances therefore 
would be spurned, seductions thus have no existance, and 
prosti'ution, the offspring of seduction, would be unknown, 
and even the ravages of that disease engendered by pro- 
miscuous sexual inter ourse, now carrying off its tens of 
thousands, transmitting its pestiferous poison to thousands 
yet unborn, would entirely disappear. 

The able author thus concludes his views: 



78 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



"And now let the readers pause. Let them review the 
the various arguments placed before them. Let them re- 
flect how intimately the instinct of which I treat is connec- 
ted with the social influence, is it important we should 
know how to control and govern it; that when we obtain 
such control we may save ourselves — and, what we ought 
to prize much more highly, may save our companions and 
our offspring from sufferings or misery ; that, by sucli 
knowledge, the young may form virtuous connections, in- 
stead of becoming profligates or ascetics ; that, by it, early 
marriage is deprived of its heaviest consequences, and se- 
duction of its sharpest sting ; that, by it, man may be saved 
from moral ruin, and woman from moral desolating dishon- 
or; that by it the first pure affections may be soothed and 
satisfied, instead of being thwarted or destroyed — let them 
call to mind all this, and let them say, whether the pos- 
session of such control be not a blessing to man. 

"As to the cry which prejudice may raise against it, as 
being unnatural, it is just as unnatural (and no more so) as 
to refrain, in a sultry summer's day, from drinking, per- 
haps, more than a pint of water at a draught, which pru- 
dence tells us is enough, while inclination would bid us 
drink a quart. All thwarting of any human wish of im- 
pulse may, in one sense, be called unnatural ; it is not, 
however, ofttimes the less prudent and proper on that 
account." 

Have we not cited enough to prove that woman has a 
most perfect and undoubted right to do as she please 
about bearing children ? We think we have. And here let 
us warn against the use of the numerous quack nosirums, 
advertised as certain specifics in prevention of pregnancy 
procuring abortion. Their use is attended wih great risk, 
and oftentimes the most dangerous results. Prevention 
pills and powders, taken internally by females, tend to dis 
organize the muscular fibres of the womb ; these are 
followed by female weaknesses, and numberless diseases 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 79 



of the womb. The authors of this work, in the long and 
extensive practice of their profession, hai their attention 
drawn to this subject, as a prolific source of disease and 
m ; s ry, and made minute and persevering research into 
the various methods of insuring success. The results were 
not entirely satisfactory, as in many cases prevention was 
only secured at the expense of enjoyment and health, in 
both male and female ; therefore we resolved to study out 
a more efficient plan ourselves. By avoiding the errors of 
other systems, they were enabled to perfect an ingenious 
means to be used by the female for the prevention of preg- 
nancy, which is sure, as well as entirely harmless, and 
pleasing in its action. It can be carried about the person, 
and used without danger of discovery, even by the male. 

Those who desire this preventive can obtain it, with full 
directions for its u.*e, by sending $5, inclosed in a letter, 
to our ad dress, and we will immediately send the article 
desired by return of mail. We would particularly impress 
upon our readers, that this is a totally new and sure means 
of prevention — a discovery of our own. It is no leaden 
syringe, or otherwise deiiterious, poisonous mineral com- 
bination, or any other useless, hurtful, or deceptive article; 
but, unlike anything else ever used, as much superior in 
its results as it is different. We can send it by maii in a 
well-sealed packet, secured from observation. Address all 
letter* to Dr. R. F. Young & Co., No. 599 Broadway, 
New-York. 

Females who have suffered long from womb diseases, or 
other we knesses peculiar to their sex, are assured that it 
is from their own neglect, if they continue to suffer after 
reading these pages. The doctors success, in treating 
the peculiar class of complaints to which females are un- 
fortunately pr disposed, is unrivalled, and their remedies 
never fail of effecting a cure, even in the most confhmed 
cases. All diseases of this character, chronic or acute, 
easily and pleasantly treated. Ladies may rely upon the 



80 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

utmost delicacy being observed in the doctors method of 
treating cases, and all confidence placed in them as under 
the seal of involiable secresy. Falling or Inflammation of 
the womb, Diseases of the Bladder, Difficult or Irregular 
Menstruation, Fluor Aibus or Whites, Sterility or Barren- 
ness, and all diseases to which females are liable, can be 
quickly and permanently cured, by making known to us 
the symptoms of your complaint. Those who live at a dis- 
tance, we will cheerfully communicate with by letter, (we 
make no charge for advice), and medicines to suit each 
particular case, forwarded by express, well pack d, and 
secure from observation. All letters should be addressed, 
plainly, as above, and the town, country, and State of the 
writer given. Address, Dr. R. F. Young, & Co., No. 599 
Broadway, New-York. 

NATURAL AND CELESTIAL MAGIC. 



Bricks eighteen inches long, eight inches thick and 
twelve inches wide may be cast into moulds of the follow- 
ing substances : Sand and refuse fourteen barrels, lime one 
one barrel, let it be as wet as brick clay. Thus every poor 
man can raise a comfortable, and even magnificient habita- 
tion of his own without much labor or expense. 

To make Leather wear Forever.— Let 

it receive as much neats foot oil as it will take. If regu- 
larly repeated every three months, leather seems to be im- 
pervious to outward action, and will last for years. 

Increase of Milk and Butter. — If cows are 

given four ounces of French boiled hemp seed, it will 
greatly increase the quantity of milk. If pans are turned 
over this milk for fifteen minutes when first milked, or 
till cold, the same milk will give double the quantity of 
butter. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 81 



To prevent Cattle, Fowls, etc., from 

getting Old. — If cattle are occasionally fed with a 
little of the extract of the June berry, it will renew or ex- 
tend the period of their lives. We use it in connection 
with the vanilla bean, and we do know that the two in 
connection will produce the most wonderful results. It 
will act on people the same as on the animal kingdom. — 
New flax seed frequently given to cattle in small quantities 
will make them, whether young or old, or if as poor and 
thin as skeletons, soon to appear fat and healthy. Horse 
Jockies will make a note of this, but be careful and not 
deceive the inexperienced too much. 

To Raise Double Crops, etc.— Throw a so- 
lution of sulphur and salt on your dung, before you spread 
and plow it in. The same will cause double crops of grass, 
and in fact of every grain and vegetable that is raised, it 
is a hundred times better than platter and guano mixed. 

To Bring Dead Trees to Life.— Bore a deep 

hole ne.ir the roots, and fill it nearly full of blue vitriol. If 
there is any life remaining in the roots it will soon be re- 
invigorated and flourish with exceeding beauty. It is by 
this process that different substances may be made to as- 
cend through the sap of trees, and thus a given tree may 
be made to produce the fruit of all trees, vines, bushes 
and even vegetables, of the kinds that grow on the top of 
the ground. 

To Catch Abundance of Fish, Eels, 

etc. — Get orer the water after dark with a light, and a 
dead fish that has been smeared with the juice of stink- 
ing gladwin. Directly the fish will gather around in great 
quantities, and an immense number of them can easily be 
scooped up. Another curious thing < f a like nature is, 
that when a black snake is killed in the day time hun- 
dreds of other black snakes will gather around him at night. 
Many kinds of serpents are attracted in a like manner. — 



82 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



Who will say that here is not natural affinity, or Celestial 
"and Terrestial magic. 

To Discover Tilings Lost, Stolen, or 

.Hidden. — Learn the time and place the person losing 
was horn under, and trace his horoscope. It will give the 
lull particulars and where to find the lost article. 

To Raise Grass, Clover, Mushrooms, 

etc., WitliOllt Seed. — Spread a litte lime on waste 
moss ground and you will get an abundant crop of clover. 
Cow and horse manure mixed, will produce mushrooms. — 
Oats sown at the usual time, and kept beaten down or 
cropped down without getting ripe, will the next season 
from the same stalks produce an abundant crop of rve. — 
We can only account for these things upon the simple 
ground, that the most primitive types under a law to 
which that like production is subordinate, give birth to the 
type next above it, this again produced the next higher, 
and so on to the very highest known existence. It is well 
known that often when trees or forests are burned down 
that other species or genera of trees will rise in their stead, 
of course without seed. It is also well known to all learn- 
ed physiologists that the biain of mankind passes through 
the form, character and substance of seven different exist- 
ences or types before we are allowed to breathe the breath 
of life. 

A Mode of Preparing Paper to Resist 

Water. — Plunge unsized paper, once or twice, into a 
solution of mastic, in oil of turpentine, and dry by a gentle 
heat. This has all the properties of writing papers and 
may be use I for that purpose. 

To Render Paper Fire-Proof.— Whether 

the paper be plain, written, . printed or even marbled, 

stained or painted for p;;per hangings, dip it in a strong 

solution of alum water, and thoroughly dry it. In this 
state it will be fire-proof. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 83 

A Compositson to Render Wood Fire- 
Proof. — Dissolve some moist gravelly earth, which ha9 
been previously well washed and cleared from any hete- 
rogeneous matter in a solution of caustic alkali. The 
mixture, when spread upon wood, forms a virtrious coat, 
and is proof against fire and water. The cost of this pro- 
cess is very insignificant, compared with its great utility, 
being about thirty-eight cents for every hundred square 
feet. 

Paste for Sharpening Razors.— Take one 

ounce of pulverized oxide of tin, and mix with it a suf- 
ficient quantity of the saturated solution of oxalic acid to 
form a paste. Rub it over the strop, and when dry, a 
little water may be added. It gives a fine edge to a razor. 

To Prepare Water-Proof Boots.— Take 

three ounces of spermaceti, and melt it in an earthen pot 
over a slow fire; add thereto six drachms of India rubber 
cut into slices, and after it dissolves add of tallow eight 
ounces ; amber varnish, four ounces; mix it, and it will be 
fit for use immediately. 

The Apparition of a Ship in the Air.— 

In 1547 a ship with many p issengers set sail from New 
Haven. In the next spring no tidings came from Europe 
of Capt. Lambertou and his vessel. New Haven's heart 
began to fail. In the June ensuing a great thunder storm 
arose, and the lost ship appeared at the mouth of the har- 
bor, all sails set, the children cried out, there is a brave 
ship, and people blessed God and rejoiced. At last when 
the ship was apparently so near the wharf that a stone 
might be thrown on board of her, her main top seemed tc 
be blown oif and left hanging in the shrouds, then all her 
upper works seemed to be blown away. Soon after her 
hull seemed to settle and vanished into a passing cloud. 
This was the very model of the lost ship, and doubtless 
her tragic end. Here we have spiritual, natural, and celes- 



84 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



tial affinity. The above is narrated by the Rev. James 
Pierpont. 

To Cause Various Dreams.— Before you 

retire, eat a little balm. Pleasant sights will appear in 
your dreams, as fields, gardens, trees and flowers, you feel 
that you see and behold the whole face of living nature. 
If you use oil of poplar and Balm of Gilead when awake, 
it enables you to see and behold all things n nature, and 
to foretell things to come. Dark and troublesome dreams 
are brought about by earing French beans, leeks, weabine 
and new red wine. You will think you are being carried 
into the air, with lightning and fearful apparitions. 

To Make Barren Women Conceive.— 

They must drink sage tea often and use pure salt. Plu- 
trach says — "Female mice will conceive only by licking 
salt." 

To Make the Face Clear and beauti- 
ful like Silver, and to remove Spots, 
Tan, Pimples, Blotches, etc. — Wild tansy, 

horse radish and sweet milk seed as an ointment will 
truly do all that is above stated, it is also good for neck 
and hands. 

To Change the Color of the Eyes.— 

Anoint the forehead with a solution from the ashes of 
hazel nut, and by its oil you can make the eye white, gray 
or black, varing by solution. 

The hnir may be made to grow long and quickly by 
using an ointment of marsh mallows, lard, cummin seed, 
mastic and yolk of eggs. It may also thus obtain a dura- 
ble and brilliant jet black, auburn, or as desired. Any one 
who may have been as bald as a sheet of paper for years, 
are informed that we can give a beautiful head of rich 
black hair by the above means. Persons who suffer from 
baldness, will do well to correspond with us. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 85 



How to contract from being Over- 
widened in Confinement, etc.— Rotuia, an 

ancient writer, says, we may honestly speak of this, as 
conception is often hundred by it. The antidote is gall, 
sumac, plantain and comohy in extract or solution. Anoint 
the parts. When used a few times their result is per- 
manent, and no person can tell but what one is still a 
virgin. 

To Change the Human Features. — To 

look pale, lean and old, or full pimples. The fumes of 
saffron, brim-tone and sublimate of mercury, will do it. 
Then if the per. on acted on is put under the influence of 
lobion sulphuiis, ether, or nervous e'her, made from ex- 
tract of opium and aconite, both of which are dangerous 
in the hands of an unskillful person, the person operated 
on will look as the operator shall think or wish them to 
look like, and act an animal and intimate the same in ges- 
ture, action, etc. If any one shall go into a church or any 
public assembly with an uncorked bottle of this subtile sub- 
stance, he can cause the preacher or speaker, or any one 
present, to do anything he desires. Ladir s may thus be 
made to turn somersets in the streets, judges to quit the 
bench, prosecuting attorneys, etc., to quit business, and to 
laugh, dance and sing, as if they were a company of jug- 
glers or shaking quakers. There is nothing, absolutely no- 
thing that the oporator cannot make any one, or any num- 
ber of people do, by the use of this subtile substance, 
together with a few other things. By combining spiritual 
influence with this means, all papers, goods, books, bonds, 
mortgages and signatures from all papers can easily and 
quickly removed, and no one but the operator can ever 
know how, or by what means it was done. It is true that 
packages of money aud other valuable papers are every 
day moved by invisible means from one p. ace to another. 
It is true that the operator or he who has this mixture 
with him, can go were he likes, without being seen or 



86 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



suspected, and to remove what he pleases, and no one 
can ever be the wiser of it except himself. He can travel 
on boats, stages, railroads, etc., without ever being seen, 
He can cause any one to do anything for him that he de- 
sires — whether male Or female. He can inspire fear, ter- 
ror or gladness, and can by the same means, a little varied, 
injure or kill people at whatever distance. Besides doing 
all of these wonderful things for sport, gain, profit and 
evil, he can cure many diseases. We forbear to write any 
further on this subject, and would direct the reader's atten- 
tion to the accompanying illustration, which shows the 
effects of this preparation on a party oi gentlemen who are 
amusing themselves by testing the experiment. But this 
is an article we would advise our readers not to meddle 
with; in the hands of unskilful persons, it might be the 
means of producing a great deal of mischief. 

To Make the Human Face Grow.- The 

decoction of a chameleon, rubbed on the forehead, will 
make the eyes green. The hair of the head can be made 
to fall off by touching the body with the milk of boak or 
salamander. The leprosy, Pliny says, may be produced 
by similar means. Plutarch says that to soak a hen's egg 
in vinegar, the shell will soon get so soft as to be. put into 
the smallest bottle. Also, that a hen's egg, kept in the 
spawn of the cuttle fish, will soon be larger than a man's 
head ; also, by a similar means, tats my be made to grow 
as big as horses. About the eggs, we believe that, for we 
have done that, but about the rats, we should like to have 
the privilege of seeing it, before we could bay that we fully 
believe it. We will not favor a deception if we know it 
to be such. 

To Make a Room seem all on Fire, 

fearful to behold. — Salammoniac, half-an-ouuce, 
camphor, one ounce; burn it. Be careful that no woman 
with child is in the room. 

To Handle Fire without harm.— Qiick- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 87 



■liver neutralized in vinegar, and the white of an egg 
smeared on, will preserve anything from fire. Theso are 
ways by which conjurors, buffoons and mountebankg ope- 
rate. There is, however, nothing natural or celestial aboul 
them. It is sheer trickery and deception. The laws of 
the several civilized nations have denounced them as im- 
postors. 

To make a Light hum forever with- 
out replenishing. — A lamp filled in a glass globe and 
arranged with pipes, so as to continually return the escap- 
ing substance of the oil back into the lamp again without 
any loss, will of course produce the above result. This 
then can be done. 

Fifty Hens' Eggs Changed into One 

Egg. — Break fifty eggs into a bowl, then put them into a 
bladder just the size and shape of an egg. Put the shells 
in vinegar, it wi 1 soon dissolve them. With this solution 
point the bladder over a few times, and the egg-shell is 
formed perfectly. This is curious, but is not the less true. 

To Fry Fish on Paper.— On white paper 

put oil or fat. a id your fish. Set it on a slow fire of coalg 
that has no flame, the fish will soon be cooked. 

How to Iloast Chichens without Fire, 

— Clean a chicken, and run a red-hot iron through his 
body, and cover it up with wet cloths. In a short time it 
will be well baked. 

How to make a Bird or Chichen 

Roast HiniSelf. — The celebrated philosopher Al- 
bertus writes thus : — A fowl, that if a stick of witch hazel 
is ran through it, and it is hung before the fire, that the 
fowl wil keep turning round till it is well roasted. 

To Cure Drunkenness. — Keep tha patient for 

one week on nothing but liquor. This is a sure cure. Ex- 
tract of calerwart will also cure it. Laziness is also cured 
by giving to the patient an occasional dose of ferri. The 



88 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



sulphate of ferri is the best. It acts on the liver and vital 
organs, and is a sure cure for Laziness. 

Living Creatures are drawn together 

"by Sympathy. — Throw a chameleon into water, or 
sand, or chaff, weazels, mice, cats, fleas, frogs, rats, dogs, 
etc., are brought together, so that you can catch and des- 
troy them. 

To make Dogs and Cats Bewitched 

and Stupid* — The Ophrastus says the herb almerra 
will do it. Henbane will also do the same thing. A dog's 
color may be changed by quick lime and litharage. A dog 
cannot run from you or bite you, if you have another dog's 
heart in your pocket. A bird cannot fly if you cut the up- 
per and lower nerves of its wings. 

To renew all Old or Defaced Letters 

and Other Papers. — Boil galls in wine, and 
sponge over the surface, the letters or writing will be as 
fresh as ever. 

Images to Hang in the Air. — This is done 

by inverted mirrors. People, when walking, can be made 
to look as if they were upside down, and many other won- 
derful things may be produced. There is much deception 
about it, however. An image may be thrown upon any ob- 
ject in place of a dark night — terribly frightening those 
not knowing how it is done. 

To Alter the Human Face.— Anoint with 

shell of walnuts and pomegranates in vinegar, the face 
will be black. Oil of honey washes red and yellow 
color. 

To Make the Face Swelled, Pressed 

Down Or Full Of Scars. — Nothing deforms the 
countenance more than the stinging of bees. Tumors and 
cavities are made by tithymot to the eyes, nose and mouth ; 
cantharides also alters the features. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 89 



To Cure the Bite of Vipers, Scorpi- 
ons, Lizards, Serpents and Snakes.— A 

few drops of ivy, almond wood, ash, juniper, elder wine 
and bay leave?, or an extract of these will soon cure any 
venom. Alexander the Great used to cure drunkeness by 
a similar means. The courage of men and armies, it ia 
stated by Timothous, may also be drawn out of them by 
thi gs of nearly a like nature. 

A Simple, yet Cnrions Tiling.— Any one 

may wet a thread with salt wat- r, and suspend a button 
from a ceiling, and then burn the stiing to ashes, and yet 
the button will still hang. This is a strange thing 
to look at, yet it is easily seen that it is brought about on 
the gobule piinciple. And as in this case, so it is through- 
out the whole domain of natural and celestial philosophy, 
or, in other words, and which only means the same thing — 
natural and celestial magic. We wish to impress the 
public mind upon the fact, that all of these apparently 
curious things are brought about by natural and not super- 
natural means. 

To Mnltiply Trees without Seedlings 

Or Grafts.— Clip off the last year's growth, and stick 
the cut end in pulveiized blue vitriol, and then stick the 
end into a large potato and plant it. It will flourish like a 
rose, and grow four times as fast, and bear more and bet- 
ter fruit than trees that are raised by what is called natu- 
ral means. This is a discovery of our own, and we regard 
it as a great and valuable one and worth more than a hun- 
dred times the piice of this book. Salt sprinkled on any 
kind of cabbage, or vegetables of any kind, will double the 
crop. All seeds by being soaked in solution made from 
wine, mandrake, salammoniac and sa't, for a day before 
they are planted, will result in an early and a dou le crop 
on any soil ; some yields more than a double crop. 

Do the Inhabitants of other Planets 

ever Visit tlllS JEartn']— We propose in this con- 



90 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



nection to make a few remarks on the following: Mr, 
Henry Wallace and othe* persons of Jay, Ohio, have re- 
cently detailed to us the annexed. There are thousands 
of such cases on record. These gentlemen state that 
some time since, on a clear and hright day, a shadow was 
thrown over the place were they were : this necissarely 
attracted their attention to the Heavens, were they, one 
and all beheld a large and curiously constructed vessel not 
over one hundred yards from the earih. They could plainly 
discern a large number of people on board of her, whose 
average height appeared to be about twelve feet. The 
vessel was evidently worked by wheels and other mechan- 
ical appendages all of which worked with a precision and 
a degree of beauty never yet attained by any mechanical 
skill upon this planet. 

Now we know that thousands will, at this recital, cry 
humbug, nonesense, lunacy, &c, but we know that there 
are other thousands who will read and reflect. It is for 
these latterthousands that we write. Once upon a time there 
appeared a celebrated reformer, who arose among the peo- 
ple and taught a new doctrine, that from its reasonableness 
and its simplicity, electrified the hearts of the thinking 
people. But the party who didn't think, and who hated 
reason, and new ideas, cried out away with him to the cruci- 
fixion. And they did crucify his body, but they have not 
yet succeeded in crucifying the reason and new f-.cts and 
ideas that he taught. 

In view then of the above, we venture to advance the 
following remarks, viz : — We believe that the time will 
come when all of the innabitants of the worlds or planets 
in the solar system will regularly visit each other — when 
in the fullness or fruition of things, an interchange of ideas 
and commodities, visiting and greetings between the res- 
pective inhabitants of all worlds or planets will be common 
and universal. We believe that the grand aspirations or an 
advanced humanity on this earth is not without a good 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 91 

cause and a good reason. We believe that when the res* 
pective atmospheres, seen surrounding the different planets 
in the solar system, indeed of every part of the universe, 
shall have passed into the higher condition of excellence 
and purity of which it is capable, that it will then give life 
to a more exilted and finished condition of genera and 
species, or inhabitants. That all of the planets are now 
inhabited by a kind of beings suited to their respective 
planetaty and electrical conditions, is, we think, certain. 
And that the inhabitants of thousands of ihese worlds that 
roll with eternal beauty throughoit the boundless regions 
of the immensity of space, have attained that advanced 
condition in their planetary being, we hnve no doubt what- 
ever. And that this ship which Mr. Wallace and others 
seen, was from Venus, Mercury, or the planet Mars, on a 
visit of pleasure or exploration, or some other cause, we 
ourselves, with the evidence at hand, that we can bring to 
bear on it, have no more doubt of than we have of the fact 
ol our own existence. This, mind, was no phantom that 
disappeared in a twinkling, as nil phantoms do disappear, 
but this aerial ship was guided, propelled and steered 
through the atmosphere with the most scientific system and 
regularity, at about six miles an hour, though doubtless, 
from the appearnce of her machinery, she was capable of 
going thousands of miles an hour, and who knows but ten, 
yes, fifty or an hundred thousand miles an hour. And why 
then may not the scientific geniuses of other planets have 
done as much as ours have ? Besides this, if we had rocwn 
we could draw an argument from the electrical condition of 
the media existing between the planets, to show that a body 
once in motion at a given distance from a planetary body 
in space, will move with nearly the speed of electricity till 
it meets again the resisting media or atmosphere of another 
planet or body in space. That all of this knowledge, and 
a million of times more, may be known to some of the ex- 
ulted beings of other planets in space, we have no doubt. 



92 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



But as we were saying this serial ship moved directly 
off from the earth, and remained in sight, till by distance she 
was lost to the view. The foregoing is our firm and 
decided conclusion and belief in this matter. 



Charms, Spells, and Incantations. 

Charms against Furions Beasts.— Re- 
peat reverently, and with sincere faith, the following words, 
and you shall be protected in the hour of danger : — 

11 At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh, neither 
6halt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. 

11 For thou shalt be in league with the stones of field; 
the beasts of the- field shall be at peace with thee." 

Charm against TronMe in General.— 

Repeat reverently, and with sincere faith, the following 
words, and you shall be protected in the hour of dan- 
ger :— 

" He shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea in seven 
there shall no evil touch thee. 

"In famine he shall redeem thee from death, and in war 
from the power of the sword. 

"And thou shalt know thaf thy tabernacle shall be 
peace, and thy habitation shalt not err." 

Charm against Enemies.— Repeat rever- 
ently, and with sincere faith, the following words, and you 
shall be protected in the h ur of danger : — 

"Behold, God is my salvation ; I will trust, and not be 
afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song ; 
he also is become my salvation. 

44 For the stars of Heaven, and the constellations there- 
of, shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened 
in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light 
to shine. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 93 



M And behold, at evening tide, trouble ; and before 
tbe morning- is not ; this in the portion of them that 
spoils us.'' 

Charm against Peril by Fire or Wa- 
ter* — E' peat reverently, and with sincere faith, the 
following words, and you shah be protected in the hour of 
danger : — 

11 When thou passest through the waters, 1 will be with 
thee, an. I through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; 
when thou walkest through the fire, thou sha'l not be bur t, 
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." 

The Magic Torch— to Produce tlae Ap- 
pearance Of Serpents.— Take the skin of a ser- 
pent when lirst killed, and twist it up like catgut ; then 
take the blood and fit thereof and mix them up with tal- 
low to make it of sufficient consistent e ; then take a 
mould, snch as candles are made in, and fix the skin of 
the serpent as the wick, and pour in the f'u t, etc., as above 
prepared, which composition will then form a candle. The 
whole of this expriiment must be performed when the sun 
is in the sign Scorpio. W. en this candle is thus lit in a 
close room, the place will appear filled with innumerable 
quantities of seipents in all parts thereof, to the great hor- 
lur of the spectators; and s > perfect will be the appear- 
ance, that even the operator himself will be unable to with- 
stand the fo;ce of imagination. 

Charms to Know wli© Your Husband 

Shall be. — 1. On St. Agnes' Day. — This is to be at- 
tempted on the 2 1st of January, St gntV day. You 
must prepare yourself by a twenty-fours' fast, touch nothing 
but pure spring water, beginning at midnight on the 20th 
to the same again on the 21st, then go to bed, and mind 
you sleep by yourself; and do not mention what you are 
trying to any one, or it will break the spell ; go to rest on 
your left side, and repeat these lines three times: 



94: THE MAGIC WAND AND 



St. Agnes be a friend to me, 

In the gift I ask of thee ; 

Let me this night my husband see. 

And you will dream of your future spouse ; if you see more 
men than one in your dream, you will wed two or three 
times, but if you sleep and dream not, you will never 
marry. 

Tlie JLove-L<etter Charm.— On receiving a 

love-letter that has any particular declaration in it, lay it 
wide open ; then fold it in nine folds, pin it next to your 
heart, and thus wear it till bed-time, then place it in your 
left hand glove, and lay it under your head. If you dream 
of gold, diamonds, or any other costly gm, your lover is 
true, and means what he says, if of white lin»n, you will 
lose him by d; ath ; and if of flowers he will prove f ilse. 
If you dream of his saluting you, he means not what he 
professes, and will draw you into a snare. If you dream 
of castles or a clear sky, there is no deceit, and you will 
prosper; trees in blossom show children; washing or 
graves show you will lose your lover by death ; and water 
shows that your lover is faithful, but that you will go 
through severe poverty with the party for sometime, though 
all may end well. 

To Know if a Woman will have a 

Grirl Or Hoy. — Write the proper names of the father 
and mother, and ihe month she conceived with child ; 
count the letters in these words, and divide the amount by 
seven ; and then if the remainder be even, it will be a girl, 
if un-even it will be a boy. 

To Know if a Child new-horn shall 

live Or not. — Write the proper names of the father 
and the mother, and of the day the child was born ; count 
the letters in these words, and to the amount add twenty- 
five, and then divide the whole bv seven ; if the remainder 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 95 



be even, the child shall die, but if it be uneven, the child 
shall live. 

To Enow How Soon a Person Will be 

Married. — Get a gveen pea-pod, in which are exactly 
nine peas ; hang it over the door, and then take notice of 
the next person who comes in, who is not of the family, 
nor of the same sex with yourself, and if it proves an un- 
married individual, you will certainly be married within 
that year. 

To Know what Fortune your future 

Husband Will have. — Take a wall-nut, a hazel- 
nut and nutmug; grate them together, and mix them with 
butter and sugar, and make them up into small pills, of 
which exactly nine must be taken on going to bed, and ac- 
cording to your dreams, so will be the state of the person 
you will marry. If a gentleman, your dream will be of 
riches ; if a clergyman, of white linen ; if a lawyer, of 
darkness ; if a tradesman, of cold noises and tumults; if a 
soldier or sailor, of thunder and lightning; if a servant, 
of rain. 

PRECIOUS METALS, 
Secret of its alloys. 

Gold, Silver, etc., fully and faithfully explained, 
with, their general and commercial uses, etc. 

Artifical Gold. — Sixteen parts of virgin platina 
and seven parts of copper, and one part of zinc. Put 
these into a covered crucible, with powdered charcoal, 
and melt them together till the whole forms one mass, and 
are thoroughly incorporated together. 

This abo makes a gold of extraordinary beauty and 
value. It it not possible by any tests that chemists know 
of, to distinguish it from the virgin gold. 



96 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



Manneim or Jewelers' Gold. — Three 

parts of copper, one part of zinc, and one part of block tin. 
If these are pure and melted in a covered crucible contain- 
ing- charcoal, the resemblance will be so good that the besl 
jndges cannot tell it from pure gold without analyzing it. 

Best PinCltbeCfc. Gold. — Five ounces of pure 
Copper and one ounce of zinc. This makes gold set good 
to appearance , that a great deal of deception by its use in 
the way of watches and jewelry, has been successfully 
practiced for several hundred years back. 

Imitation of Pure Silver.— So perfect in 

its resemblance, that no chemist living can tell it from the 
pure virgin s lver. It was obtained from a german chemist, 
now dead, by the authors of this book. He used it for un- 
lawful purposes, to the amount of thousands, and yet the 
metal is so perfect that he was never discovered. It is all 
melted together in a crucible. Here it is : — 

Quarter of an ounce of brass, three ounces of pure silver, 
one ounce of bismuth, two ounces of common salt, one 
ounce of arsenic, one ounce of potash. 

To Change Mercury into Gold.— Take of 

fine gold a quarter of an ounce, mercury one ounce. Put 
both in a strong bottle, and hermetically seal the same- 
Put it into horse dung for ninety days. Take it o\x% at the 
end of that time, and see what you have. Now potlr on to 
it half its weight of sal ammonia. Now set it on the centre 
of a pot full of sand over a slow fire ; let them distil into 
a pure essence. Add to this compound two parts more of 
pure mercury ; hermetically seal your bottle again, and put 
it back into the horse dung for ninety day*. Then take 
them out and see what you have — a pure etheral essenc?, 
vv.iich is the pure living gold, 24 carats fine. Pour this 
pure spiritual liquor out upon a drachm of molten fine gold, 
and you will find that which will satisfy your hunger and 
thirst after this grand secret. For the incre: se of your 
gold will seem miraculous as indeed it is. Now take it to 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 97 



a jeweler or goldsmith: let them try it in your presence, 
and you will have good reason to bless God for the re- 
cipient of superior wisdom. 

Pure German Silver.— Best copper, eight 

parts; zinc, three and a half; nickel, three parts. If you 
make German silver in this way, it will be white and beau- 
tiful, and nearly like pure silver. This is done by the uso 
of a crucible and heat of course. We do not speak of tha 
common article. It is a cheap article, and the best is tha 
cheapest of anything. This, like any other metal, may of 
course be easily plated with pure silver, if required. 

How to Increase tiie Weigtit of Gold. 

— We take the following from natural and celestial magio 
in twenty books published by the celebrated John Baplista 
Porta, at L'ondon, in 1658. Here it is : — 

" Take your bar of gold and rub it long and carefully with 
thin silver untill the gold absorb the quantity of silver th.it 
you require. Then prepare a strong solution of brimstone 
and quicklime. Now put the gold into a vessel with a 
wide mouth. Now let them boil till the go^ attain the 
right color, and you have it, but do not use this knowledge 
for an ill purpose. ,J 

Olden Superstitions of ttie Power of 
the Serpent, its Wonderful and Magical 
Virtues 5 Plants, Animals, Stones, Crys- 
tals, etc. — Hippocrates, by the use of some parts of this 
animal, attained to himself divine honors ; for therewith 
he cured pestilence and contagion, consumptions, and very 
many other diseases, for he cleansed the flesh of a viper. 
Thu utmost part of the tail and head being cut off, he strip- 
pod off the skin^ casting away the bowels and gall ; he re- 
served of the imestines only the heart and liver; he drew 
om all the bl^rW, with the vein running down the back 
bone ; he bruised the flesh and the aforesaid bowels with 
the bones, and dried them in a warm oven until they could 



98 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



be powdered, which powder he sprinkled on honey ; being 
clarified and boiled until he knew that the flesh in boiling 
had cast aside their virtue, as well in the broth as in the 
vapors ; he then added the spices of his country to cloak 
the secret 

Amber is an amulet ; a piece of red amber worn about 
one, is a preventive against poisons. 

Likewise a sapphire stone is as effectual. Oil of amber 
or amber dissolved in pure spirits of wine, comforts the 
womb being disordered, if fumigation of it be made with 
the warts of the shank of a horse, it will cure many disor- 
ders of that region. 

The liver and gall of an eel, likewise, being gradually 
dried and reduced to powder, and taken in the quantity of 
a filbert nut, in a glass of warm wine, cause a speedy and 
safe delivery. 

Rhubarb, on account of its violent antipathy, wonder- 
fully purges. Music is a well-known specific for curing 
the bite of insects ; likewise, water cures the hydrophobia. 
Warts are cured by paring off the same ; or by burying as 
many pebbles, secretly, as the party has warts. The king's- 
evil may be cured by the heart of a toad worn about the 
neck, first being dried. Hippomanes excites lust by the 
bare touch, or being suspended on the party. If any one 
shall spit in the hand with which he stiuck or hurt another, 
so shall the wound be cured ; likewise, if any one shall 
draw the halter werewith a malefactor was hung across the 
throat of one who has the quinsey, it certainly cures him in 
three hours ; also, the herb cinque-foil being gathered be- 
fore the sun, one leaf thereof, cures the tertian, and four 
quartan ague. Rape seed sown with cursings and impre- 
cations, grows the fairer, and thrives, but with praises the 
reverse. The juice of deadly nightshade, distilled, and 
given in a proportionate quantity, makes tlitf party imagine 
almost whatever you choose. The herb nip, b«ing healed 
in the hand of any other party, they shall never quit you 10 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 99 



long as you retain that herb. The herbs arsement, com* 
frey, flaxwood, dragon wort, adder's tongue, being steeped 
in cold water, and for some time applied on a wound or 
ulcer, they grow warm, and, buried in a muddy place, 
cureth the wound or sore to which they were applied. 
Again, if any one pluck the leaves of asara acea drawing 
them upwards, they will purge another, who is ignorant oi 
the drawing, by vomit only; but if they are wrestled down- 
ward to the earih, they purge by stool. A sapphire or a 
stone that is of a deep blue color, if it be rubbed on a tu- 
mor, wherein the plague discovers itself (before the party 
is too far gone) and by and by it be removed from the sick, 
the absent jewel attracts all the poison or contagion there- 
from. And thus much is sufficint to be said cocerning na- 
tural occul virtues, where of we speak in a mixed and mis- 
cellaneous manner. 

Of the Art of Fascination, Binding, 
Sorceries, Magical Confections, Liglits, 
Candles, Images, Lamps, etc.— We have so 

for spoken concerning the great virtues and wonderful 
efficacy of natural things, it remains now that we speak of 
a wonderful power and faculty of fascination ; or, more 
properly, a magical and occult binding of men into love or 
hatr< d, sickness or health ; also, the binding of thieves, 
that they cannot steal in any place, or to bind them that 
they cannot remove, from whence they may be detected; 
the binding of merchants that they cannot buy nor sell; 
the binding of an army that they cannot pass any bounds ; 
the binding of ships, so that no wind, ever so strong, shall 
be able to carry them out of that harbor; the binding of a 
/ mill, that it cannol, by any means whatsoever, be turned to 
work ; the binding of a cistern or fountain, that the water 
cannot be drawn up out of them ; the binding of the ground, 
so that nothing can be built upon it; the binding of fire, 
that, though it be ever so strong, it shall burn no combusti- 



100 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



ble things that are put to it ; also, the binding of lightning 
and tempests, that they shall do no hurt ; the binding of 
dogs, that they cannot bark ; also, the binding of birds and 
beasts, that they shall not be able to run or fly away ; and 
things similar to these, which are hardly creditable, yet 
known by experience. Now how it is these kinds of bind- 
ings are made and brought to pass, we must know. They 
are thus done : by sorceries, collyries, unguents, potions, 
binding to and hanging up of talismans, by charms, incan- 
tations, strong imaginations, affection, passions, images, 
characters, enchantments, imprecations, lights, and by 
sounds, numbers, words, names, invocations, swearings, and 
conjurations. 

HippomaJieS* — Poison is in them — they are a poi- 
son to poisonous creatures. We next come to speak of 
hippomanes, which, amongst sorceries, are not accounted 
the least ; and this is a little venomous piece of flesh, the 
size of a fig, and black, which is in the forehead of a colt 
newly foaled, which, unless the mare herself does presently 
eat she will hardly ever love her foals, or let them suck; 
and this is a powerful philter to cause love, if it be pow- 
dered, and drank in a cup with the blood of him that is in 
love. Such a potion was given by Medea to Jason. 

There is another sorcery which is called hippomanes, 
viz: a venomous liquor issuing from the mare at the time 
she is lusting after the horse. The civet cat, also, abounds 
with sorceries ; for the posts of a door being touched with 
her blood, the arts of jugglers and sorcerers are so invalid 
that evil spirits can by no means be called up, or compelled 
to talk with them ; this is Pliny's report. Also, those that 
are annointed with the oil of her feet, being boiled with 
the ashes of the ancle-bone of the same and the blood of 
a weasel, shall become odious to all. The same, also, is to 
be done with the eye being decocted. If any one has a 
little of the strait-gut of this animal about him, and it is 
bound the left arm, it is a charm ; that if he does but look 



MEDICAL GUIDE, 



101 



upon a woman, it will c-.use her to follow him at all oppor- 
tunities : and the skin of this animal's forehead withstand* 

witchcraft. , .■ . ... , , . , 

We next come to speak of the blood of a basilisk whicb 
ma-icians call the blood of Saturn. This procures (by Us 
virtue) for him that carries it about him, good success of 
petitions from great men.; likewise makes him amazingly 
successful in the cure of disease, and the grant of any pri- 
vilege. They say, also, that a stone bitten by a mad dog 
causes discord, if he put into drinks; and if any one shad 
put the tongue of a doir, dried, into his shoe, or some of 
the powder, no dog is able to bark at him who has it ; end 
more powerful this, if the herb hound's tongue be put with 
it. And the membrane of the secudine does the same , 
likewise will not bark at him who has the heart of a dog 
in his pocket. . , , , * 

The red toad (Pliny says) living in briars and brambles, 
is full of sorceries, and is cap ble of wonderful things. 
There is a little bone in his left side, which being cast into 
cold water, makes it presently hot, by which, also, the rage 
of dogs is restrained, and their love procured if it be put 
in their drink, making them faithful and serviceable ; if it 
be bound to a woman, it stirs up lust, On the contrary, 
the bone which is on the right side makes hot water cold 
and it binds so that no heat can make it hot while it there 
remains. It is a certain eure for quartans, if it be bound 
to the sick in a snake's skin ; and likewise cures all fevers, 
the St. Anthony's fire, and restrains lust. And the spleen 
and heart are effectual antidotes of the said toad, inus 

much Piiny writes. . V. 

Also it is said, that the sword with which a man ,s .lain 
has wonderful power; for if the snaffle of a bridle or bit 
or spurs, be made of it, with these a horse ever so wild is 
tamed, and made gentle and obed.ent. They aayv f we 
dip a sword, with which any one was beheaded, in wine, 
that it cures the quartan, the sick being given to dunk ot 



102 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



it. There is a liquor made, by which men are made as 
raging and furious as a bear, imagining themselves in every 
respect to be changed into one ; and this is done, while 
the force operates ; he will fancy every living creature to 
be just like himself ; neither can any thing divert or cure 
him till the fumes of the liquor are entirely expended. 
This is wonderful, and strictly true. 

Of tlie Occult Virtue of tilings which 
are Inherent in them only in their 
Life-time, and such as remain in them 

even after Death. — Democriius writes, that if any 
one should take out the tongue of a water-frog, no other 
part of the animal sticking to it, and lay it upon the place 
'where the heart beats of a young woman, she is compelled, 
against her will, to answer whatever you shall ask her. 
Also, take the eyes of a frog, which must be exti acted be- 
fore sunrise, and bound to the sick party, and the frog to be 
let go blind into the water again, the party shall be cured 
of ague ; also, the same will, being bound with the flesh of 
a nightingale, in the skin of a hart, keep a person always 
wakeful, without sleeping. Also, the roe of the fork-fish 
being bound to the naval, is said to cause women an easy 
child-birth, if it be taken from it alive, and the fish put into 
the sea again. So the riiht eye of a serpent bein; applied 
to the soreness of eyes cures the same, if the serpent be 
let go alive. Likewise, the tooth of a mole being taken out 
alive, and afterwards let go, cures the tooth-ache ; and 
dogs will never bark at those who have the tail of a weasel 
that has escaped. Democritus says, that if the tongue of 
the cameleon be taken alive, it conduces to good success 
in trials and likewise to women in labor. 

Ttere are many properties that remain after death, and 
these are things in which the idea of the matter is less 
swallowed up. according to Plato, in them ; even after 
death, that which is immoral in them will work some won- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 103 

Jerful things, as in the skin of several wild beasts, which 
will corrode and eat one another after death ; also a drum 
made ©f the rocket fish drives all creeping- things at what 
distance soever the sound of it is heard, and the strings of 
an instrument made of the guts of a wolf, and being strain- 
ed upon a harp or lute, with strings made of sheep-guts, 
will make no harmony. But the gut of a cat is infinitely 
delightful. 

Paracelsus and Helmont both agree, that the toad, al- 
though so irreverent to the sight of man, and so noxious to 
the touch, and of such strong violent antipathy to the blood 
of man, we say, out of this hatted, Divine Providence has 
prepared a remedy against manifold diseases most inimical 
to man's nature. The toad has a natural aversion to man, 
and this sealed image or idea of hatred he carries in his 
head and eyes, and most powerfully throughout his whole 
body. 

A Series of Wonderful Cures Effected 
by the Powers of Natural and Celes- 
tial Magic. — Helmont mentions a stone he saw, and 
had in his possesion, which cured all disorders* the plague 
not excepted. We shall relate the circumstances in his own 
words, which are as follows : 

"There was a certain Irishman, whose name was Butler, 
being sometime great with James, King of England, he 
■ being detained in the prison of the Castle of Vilvord ; and 
taking pity on one Baillius, a certain Franciscan monk, a 
most famous preachor of Gallo Britain, who was also im- 
prisoned, having an erysiplas in his arm. On a certain 
| evening, when the monk did not despair, he swiftly tinged 
| a certain stone in a spoonful of almond milk, and presently 
withdrew it thence. So he says to the keeper; — " Reach 
this supping to that poor monk, and how much soever he 
shall take thereupon, he shall be whole, at least within a 
•hort hour's space." Which thing even so cane to pass, 



104 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



to the great admiration of the keeper and the sick man, 
not knowing- from whence so sudden health shone upon him, 
seeing that he was ignorant that he had taken anything, for 
his left arm being before hugeley swollen, fell down as that 
it could scarcely be discerned from the other. On the 
morning following, we being entreated by some great men, 
came to Vilvord, as witnesses of his deeds; therefore we 
contracted a friendship with Butler. Soon afterwards we 
saw a poor old woman, a laundress, who, from the age of 
sixteen years, had laboured with an intolerable megrim, 
cured in my presence. Indeed, he, by the way lightly dip- 
ped the same little stone in a spoonful of oil of olives, and 
presently cleansed the same stone by licking it with his 
tongue, and laid it up in his snuff-box ; but that spoonful of 
oil, whereof only one drop he commanded to be anoin- 
ted over the head of the aforesaid old woman, was thus 
thereby straightway cured and remained whole, which we 
can attest as we were amazed." 

Prophyry considered that, by certain vapors exhaled from 
proper fumagations, aerial spirits are raised, also, thunder 
and lightning, and the like: as the liver of a chameleon, 
being burnt on the house top, will raise showers and light- 
ning, the same effect has the head and throat, if they are 
burnt with oaken wood. 

And thei^e is another yet more wonderful. H any one 
shall take images, artificially painted, or written letters, 
and, in a clear night, set them against the beams of the 
full moon, these resemblances being multiplied in the air, 
and caught upwards, and reflected back together with the 
beams of the moon, another man, that is knowing to the 
thing, at a long distance, sees, reads, and knows them in 
the very compass and circle of the moon, which art of de- 
claring secrets is indeed very profitable for town and cities 
that are besieged, being a thing which Pythagoras long 
since did, and which is not unknown to many in these days. 

There are lome fumigations under the influence of the 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 105 



stars, that cause images of spirits to appear in the air or 
elsewhere ; if corriander, smallage, henbane and hemlock 
be made to fume, by invocations, spirits will soon come 
together, being the vapors which are most congruous to 
their Own natures; hence they are called the herbs of the 
spirits. Also, if a fume be made of the root of the reedy 
herb sapagen, with the juice of hemlock and henbane, and 
the herb tapfus barbatus, red ganders and black poppy, il 
will Ukewise make strange shapes appear, but if a suffume 
be ma e of smallage, it chases them away, and destroys 
their visions. Again, if a perfume be made of calimint, 
cinny, mint and palma christi, it drives away all evil spirits 
and vain imaginations. Likewise, by certain fumes, ani- 
mals are gathered together and put to flight. Pliny men- 
tions concerning the stone liparis, that with the fume 
thereof, all beasts are attracted together. The bones in 
the upper part of the throat of a hart being burnt, chases 
away the same. Also, the lungs of an ass being burnt, 
puts all poisonous things to flight; so does red pepper. 

Now there are certain fumigations used to almost all our 
instruments of magic, such as images, rings, etc. For 
some of the magicians say, that if any one shall hide gold 
or silver, or*any other such like precious thing (the moon 
being in conjunction with the sun), and shall pet fume the 
place with corriander, saffron, henbane, smallage and black 
poppy, of each the same quantity, and bruised together, 
and tempered wih the juice of hemlock, that thing which 
is so hid shall never be taken away therefrom, but that 
spirits shall continually keep it; and if any one shall i 
endeavor to take it away by force, they shall be hurt, or 
struck with a frenzy, or become sick, And Hermes says, 
there is nothing like the fume of spermaceti for the raising 
up of spirits ; therefore, if a fume be made of lignum 
aloes, pepper- wort, saffron and red storax, together with 
the blood of a lap-wing, it will gather airy spirits to the 
place where it is used ; and if it be used about the graves 
of the dead, it will attract spirits thither. 



106 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



The learned Procious gives an example of a spirit that 
appeared in the form of a Hon, furious and raging, by set- 
ting a white cock before the apparition it soon vanished 
away> because there is so great a contrariety between a 
cock and a lion — aud let this suffice for a general observa- 
tion in these kinds of things. 

By what means Magicians and Necro- 
mancers call fortn the Souls of Dead.— 

It is manifest that the souls after death do as yet love their 
bodies which they left, as those souls do whose bodies want 
due burial, or have left their bodies by violent death, and 
yet wander about their carcasses in a troubled and moist 
spirit, beings, as it were, allured by something which has 
an affinity with them, the means being known, by which, 
in time past, they were joined to their bodies, they may be 
called forth and allured by the like vapors, liquors and cer- 
tain artificial lights, songs, sounds, etc , which moves the 
imaginative and spiritual harmony of the soul, and sacred 
invocations, etc. 

Necromancy has its name because it works on the bodies 
of the dead, and subterraneous spirits, alluring them into 
the carcasses of the dead by charms, and infernal invo- 
cations, and by deadly sacrifices and wicked oblations. 

There are two kinds of necromancy: raising the carcas- 
ses, which is not done without blood ; the other in which 
the calling up of the shadow only suffices. To conclude, 
it works all its experiments by the carcasses of the slain 
and their bones and members, and what is from them. 

Dismissing now the discourse of ancient writers upon 
the subject of sorcery and alchemy. We will disclose to 
our readers some of the wonderful feats of the wizards 
of our own times. These tricks when performed in a 
skillful manner, will amuse and mystjfy all who behold 
them. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 107 



The Invisible Chicken or Exchant- 

ed Egg-13ag. — You must provide two or three )arcUof 
calico, or printed linen, and make a double bag. On the 
mouth of the bag, on that side next to you, make four or 
five little purses, putting two or three eggs in each purse, 
and do so till you have filled that side next to you, and 
have a ho e in one end of it, that no more than two or thiee 
eggs may come out at once, having another made exactly 
like the former, that the one may not be known from the 
other ; and then put a living hen into that bag, and 
hang it on hook near were you stand. The manner of per- 
forming it is this: — Take the egg-bag, and put both your 
hands in it, and turn it inside and say, " Gentlemen, you 
see there is nothing in my bag ;" and in turning it again you 
must slip some of the eggs out of the purses, as many as 
you think fit; and then turn your bag again, and show the 
company that it is empty, and turning it again, you com- 
mand more eggs to come out ; and when all are come out 
but one, you must take that egg and shew it to the com- 
pany, and then drop away your egg-bag and take up yonr 
hen-bag, shaking out your hen, pigeon, or any other fowl. 
This is a noble fancy if well handled. 

How to make a Person Jump,- This feat 

is more for pastime then any thing else. You must have a 
post of about five or six inches long, and get it turned hol- 
low throughout, so that you may have a screw made just to 
fit, and then put a needle at each end of the screw, and 
have two holes so contrived in the post that you may fasten 
two strings in the screw, so as when you pull on one end 
of the string the needle will run into your thumb, which 
will cause great laughter to the company. 

Scrap, or Blowing-Book.— Take a book 

seven inches long, and about five inches broad, and let 
there be forty-nine leaves, that is seven times seven con- 
tained therein, so as you may cut upon the edges of each 
leaf six notches, each notch in depth of a quarter of an inch. 



108 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



with a gouge made for that purpose, and let them be one 
inch distant ; paint every thirteenth or fourteenth page, 
which is the end of every sixth leaf and beginning of every 
seventh, with like colors or pictures ; cut off with a pair of 
scissors every notch of the first leaf, leaving one inch of 
paper, which will remain half a quarter of an inch above 
that leaf; leave another like inch id the second ptfrt of the 
second leaf, clipping away an inch of paper in the highest 
place above it, and all notches below the same, and orderly 
to the third and fourth, so that there shall rest upon each 
leaf only one nick of paper above the rest, one high uncut, 
an inch of paper must answer to the first directly, so as 
when you have cut the first seven leaves in such a manner 
as described, you are to begin the self same order at the 
eighth lea!, decending the same manner to the cutting 
other seven leaves to twenty-one, until you have passed 
through every leaf all the thickness of your book. 

Gim Cotton— How Prepared.— The cotton 

used for this purpose must be free from all extraneous mat- 
ter. It is desirable to operate on the clean fibres of cotton 
in a dry state, by means of nitric and sulphuric acid. These 
are mixed together in one part nitric to three of sulphuric — 
in any vessel not liable to be affected by the acids. A 
great degree of heat being generated by the mixture, it is 
left to cool until its temperature falls to fifty degrees Fah- 
renheit. The cotton is then immersed in it; and, in order 
that it may become thoroughly saturated with the acids, it 
is stirred with a glass rod. The cotton should be introdu- 
ced in as open a state as practicable. The acids are then 
drawn off, and the cotton gently pressed to take out the 
acids, after which it is covered up in the vessel and allowed 
to stand sixty to eighty minutes; it is then washed in a 
continuous flow of water until the presence of the acids is 
not indicated by the test of litmus paper; dip the cotton in 
a weak solution of carbonate of potash ; that will remove any 
portion of the acids that may remain ; when dry the cotton 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 109 



can be used in the above state ; but to increase its explosive 
jjower, dip it in a weak solution of potash, then dry in an 
oven heated by hot air or steam to about one hundred and 
fifty degrees Fahrenheit, 



SYMPATHETIC INKS 

For Yellow. — Write with muriate of antimony ; 
when dry wash with tincture of galls. 

Blaclt. — Write with a solution of green vitrol, and 
wash with tincture of galls. 

Slue. — Nitrate of cobalt, and wash with oxalic acid. 

YellOW. — Subacetate of lead, wash with hydrochlo> 
ric acid. 

Green. — Arsenate of potash, wash with nitrate of 
copper. 

Brown. — Prussiate of potash is the wash over nitrate 
of copper. 

Plirple. — Solution of gold and muriate of tin. 

Black. — Perchloride of mercury ; the wash is hydro* 
chloride of tin. 

Sympathetic Lamp.— This lamp is put upon a 
table ; the conjurer gives a signal to the confederate to 
blow in a pipe, without directing the wind to the place 
where it is laid, and nevertheless it extinguishes it imme- 
diately, as if some person had blown it out. Explanation. 
— The candlestick which bears the lamp contains a pair of 
bellows in its basis, by which the wind is conveyed straight 
to the flame through a little pipe. The confederate, under 
the floor, or behind the curtain, in moving the machinery 
concealed under the table/ makes the bellows blow to ex- 
tinguish the lamp in the moment desired. 



110 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



The Gas Candle. — Provide a strong glass bottle 
which will contain about eight ounces, or halt a pint, intp 
wl-ich put a few pieces of zinc ; then mix half an ounce of 
I sulphuric acid with four ounces of water, pour it into the 
bottle upon the zinc; fit the month cltsely with a cork, 
through which put a metal tube which ends upwards in a 
fine opening; the mixture in the bottle will soon effervesce, 
and hydrogen gas will rise through the tube. When it has 
escaped for about a minute apply a lighted taper to the tube, 
and the gas will burn like a candle, but with a pale flame. 
Its brightness may be increased to brilliancy by sifting over 
it a smal quantity of magnesia. 

Ice made in a Red Hot Vessel.— Take a 

platinum cup and heat it red hot; in it pour a small quan- 
tity of water; then the same quantity of sulphuric acid: 
a sudden evaporation will ensue, then invert the eup and a 
small mass of ice will drop out. The principle is this: 
sulphuric acid has the property of boiling water when it is 
at a temperature be>ow the freezing point, and when poured 
in a heated vessel the suddenness of the evaporation occa- 
sions a degree of cold sufficient to freeze water. 

Liquid carbonic acid takes a high position for its freezing 
qualities. In drawing this curious liquid from its power- 
ful reservoirs it ev porates so rapidly as to freeze, and it is 
then a light, porous mass, like snow. If a small quantity 
of this is drenched with ether the degree of cold produced 
is even more intolerable than boiling water. A drop or 
two of this mixture produces blister, just as if the skin had 
been burned. It will freeze mercury in five to ten minutes. 

Magical Colors. — Put half a table-spoonful of 
gyrup of violets, and three table-spoonfuls of water into a 
glass, stir them well together with a stick, and put half 
the mixture into another glass. If you add a few drops of 
acid of vitrol into one of tha glasses and 6tir it, it will 
be changed into crimson. Put a few drops of fixed alkali 
dissolved into another glass, and when you stir it, it will 



MEDICAL GUIDE. Ill 



change to green. If you drop slowly into the green liquor 
from the side of the glass a few drops of acid of vitrol, 
you w : ll perceive crimson at the bottom, purple in the mid- 
dle, and green at the top ; and by adding a little fixed al- 
kali dissolved to the other glass, the same colors will appear 
in different order. 

The Magic Nosegay Blowing at the 

Word Of Command. — The branches of this nose- 
gay may be made of rolled paper, of tin, or any other mat- 
ter whatever, provided they be hollow or empty. They 
must, in the first place, be pierced in several piaces, in or- 
der to apply to them little masses of wax, representing 
flowers and fruits. Secondly, this wax must be enveloped 
with some gummed taffety, or a very thin gold-beater's 
skin. Thirdly, these envelopings murt be quickly glued to 
the branches, so as to seem a part of them, or at least a 
prolongation. Fourthly, the colors of the flowers and fruits 
they represent, must be given them. Fifthly, the wax 
must be heated till it melts, and runs down the branches 
and handle of the nosegay. 

After this preparation, if you pump the air through the 
stem of the nosegay, the enveloping will of course contract 
themselves, so as to appear withered, etc., and as you blow, 
the wind'penetrating into the ramifications of the brunches, 
the envelopings, like aerostatical balloons, dilate themselves 
so as to resume their primitive and blowing appearance.. 

To perform this trick you must begin by twisting and 
dressing lightly all these envelopings. and render them al- 
most invisible, by making them to enter into the branches 
of the nosegay : then the nosegay must be placed in a kind 
of bottle, containing a little pair of bellows, and of which 
the moveable bottom being put in motion by the machinery 
in the table, may swell the envelopings at the moment 
required. 

Theory of the Jew's Harp.— If you cause 

the tongue of this little instrument to vibrate, it will pro- 



112 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



duce a very low sound ; but if you place it before a cavity 
(as the mouth) containing a column of air, which vibrates 
much faster, but in the proportion of any simple multriple, 
it will then produce other and higher sounds, dependent 
upon the reciprocation of that portion of the air. Now the 
bulk of air in the mouth can be altered in its force, size, 
and other circumstences, so as to produce by reciprocation, 
many different sounds ; and these are the sounds belonging 
to the Jew's Harp. 

HOW to £iat Fire. — Annoint your tongue with li- 
quid storax, and you may put hot iron or fire coals into 
your mouth, and without burning you. This is a very dan- 
gerous trick to be done, and those who practice it ought to 
use all means they can to prevent danger. We never saw 
one of those fire-eaters that had a good complexion. 

Tne Miniature River on Fire.— Let fall a 

few drops of phosphorized ether on a lump of loaf sugar, 
place the sugar in a bowl of warm water, and a beautiful 
appearance will be instantly exhibited; the effect will be 
increased if the surface of the water, by blowing gently 
with the breath, be made to undulate. 

The Dancing Card.— One of the company is 
desired to draw a card, which the conjuror shuffles again 
with the others, and then orders it to appear upon the wall ; 
the card instantly obeys, then advancing by degrees and 
according to orders, it a scends in astraight line, from right 
to left; it disappears on the top of a wall, and a moment 
after it appears again, and continues to dance upon a hor- 
izontal line etc., etc. This trick is simple. It consists, in 
the first place, in obtaining a forced card drawn, which is 
easily known by the card being larger than the rest; after 
having shuffled it with the others, it is taken out of the 
pack, t e better to impose upon the company. The instant 
it is ordered to appear on the wall, the compeer or invisible 
agent very expertly draws a thread, at the end of which is 



MEDICAL GUIDE, 113 



fastened a similar card, which comes out from behind a 
glass ; another thread drawn very tight, on which it slides, 
by the means of some very small silk rings fastened, run- 
ning thereon, prescribes its motion and progress. 

Gun Trick. — Having provided yourself with a fow- 
ling-piece, permit any person to load it, retaining for your- 
self the privilege of putting in the ball, to the evident 
satisfication of the company, but instead of which you must 
provide yourself with an artificial one made of black lead, 
which may be easily concealed between your fingers, and 
retain the real ball in your possession, producing it after the 
gun has been discharged ; and a mark having been pre- 
viously put upon it, it will instantly be acknowledged. Thi9 
trick is quite simple, as the artificial ball is easily reduced 
to a powder on the application of a ram rod ; besides, the 
smallness of the balls preclude all discovery of the de- 
ception. 

The Invisible Springs,— Take two pieces of 

white cotton cord, precisely alike in length ; double each 
of them separately, so that th-ir ends meet; then tie them 
together, very neatly, with a bit of fine cotton thread, at 
the part were they double, -(i. e. the middle.) This must 
all be done beforehand. 

When you are about to exhibit the sleight, hand round 
two other pieces of cord exactly similar in length and ap- 
pearance to those which you prepared, but not tied, and 
desire your company to examine them. You then return 
to your table, placing these cords at the edge, so that they 
may fall (apparently accidentaly) to the ground behind the 
{table; stoop to pick them up, but take up the prepare I 
ones instead, which you have previously placed there, and 
lay them on the table. 

Having proceeded thus far, you take round for examina 
tion three ivory rings ; those given to children when teeth- 
ing, and may be bought -at any toy shops, are the best for 
your purpose. When the rings have undergone a sufficient 



Il4t THE MAGIC WAND AND 



scrutiny, pass the prepared double cords through them, and 
the two ends of the other to another. Do not let them 
pull hard, or the thread will break, and your trick be dis- 
covered. Request the two persons to approach each other, 
and desire each to give you one end of the cord which he 
holds, leaving to him the choice. You then say, that, to 
make all fast, you will tie these two ends together, which 
you do, bringing the knot down so as to touch the rings, and 
returning to each person the end of the cord next to him, 
you state that this trick is performed by the rule of con- 
trary, and that when you desire them to pull hard, they are 
to slacken, and vice versa, which is likely to create much 
laughter, as they are certain of making many mistakes 
at first. 

During this time you are holding the rings on the fore- 
finger of each hand, and with the other fingers preventing 
your assistants separating the cords prematurely, during 
their mistakes ; you at length desire them, in a loud voice, 
to slacken, when they will pull hard, which will break the 
thread, the rings remaining in your hands, whilst the 
strings will remain unbroken; let them be again examined, 
and desire them to look for the springs in the rings. 

The Vicar Pllffed. — This is an amusing toy, at 
which the sternest philosopher, nay, even Hera- litis, of 
weeping memory, could not refrain from laughing at. It is 
a small ball of India rubber, on which is painted a true 
likeness of the parish parson, or some person who is well 
known ; it is then fixed to a forcing air syringe, by which 
the ball is easily distended ; and as the air is forced into 
the ball, it becomes gradually increased in magnitude, 
swelling like the gourd of Jonah; the countenance of the 
vicar, parson, or other person, expands until it has attained 
the prodigious size of the full moon, still retaining all the 
character and expression of the features, without any alter- 
ation whatever ; the countenance thus being swelled to ten 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 115 



times its original dimensions, is sufficient to make a com- 
pany shout with good humor, till they are actually convulsed 
with laughter. 

Combustion in and under Water — 

Will-0 5 -tlie-Wisp. — Take a glass tumbler three 
parts filled with water, and drop into it two or three lumps 
of phosphuret of lime ; a decomposition will take place, 
and phosphuretted hydrogen gas be produced, bubbles of 
which will rise through the water, and taking fire immedi- 
ately, they burst through the surface, terminating in beau- 
tiful ringlets of smoke, which will continue until the phos- 
phuret of lime is exhausted. 

Fill a saucer with water, and let fail into it a grain or 
two of potassium ; the potassium will instantly burst into 
flame, with a slight explosion, and burn vividly on the sur- 
face of the water, darting at the same time from one side 
of the vessel to the other, with great violence, in the form 
of a beautiful red hot fire-ball. 

The Magician's Snowball.— Take a cup and 

fill it with rice, then change it into a handkerchief. To do 
this trick you have two cups (tin) made to fit one within 
the other, but let the outside cup be about two inches 
deeper than the inside one; let the rims be turned square 
down all round, but let that of the inside cup be a trifle 
larger than the outside one, so that when the tin cover 
(which you must also have) is put over them it will fit suf- 
ficiently tight to lift out the inside cup when it is taken off. 
Previous to performing this trick you must place in the 
bottom of the deep cup a white pocket handkerchief; then 
place the other cup in it, after which bring it out in presence 
of the audience ; then fill the inside cup (which to the 
audience appears to be the only cup) with rice, place the 
cover over it, after which repeat the mystic words Presto, 
Pracillo, Pass; then remove the cover and the inside cup 
willhave stuck to it and be concealed from view ; now 



116 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



take out the handkerchief, and it will greatly astonish those 
who gee it. 

The Astonishing Hindoo Miracle.— 

Take a child and place it on a table, then turn a basket 
over it, the child cries, the performer grows indignant, 
and pierces a sword through the basket, the child shrieks 
and apparently struggles in death, the sword is withdrawn 
and blood drips from it, the basket is removed but no child 
is to be seen. To do this trick, you have to use the trick- 
table, and also have a confederate ; the table is made with 
a trap-door, fastened on the underside of the table ; the 
child is trained up to the trick, consequently knows when 
to cry and when not; the child is placed upon the table 
on the trap-door, at which time it commences to cry ; a 
basket is then placed over it, on the inside of which, and 
next to the performer, is fastened a piece of common 
sponge saturated with blood or its representative, while 
the performer is making preparation to complete the trick, 
his confederate opens the trap-door of the table, and lets 
the child down, but leaves the door open, the child still 
continues to cry, the performer apparently becomes indig- 
nant, and takes a sword and pierces it throug the basket, 
and at the same time through the sponge saturated with 
blood, at which time the child shrieks, then the confeder- 
ate closes the door, which gives the sound of the child a 
dying appearance ; after the sword is withdrawn, the 
blood that was in the sponge is that which drips from it. 
This trick produces more terrific sensation than almost any 
other trick that is performed. 

? To Kill a Bird and restore it to Life 

again* — To do this trick, you must have a box put to- 
gether with screws; one end, however, has but one screw 
on each side, which acts as a hinge for the end to work 
on, but, that it may have the appearance of being solid you 
put in two false screws below those on which the end 
works ; in each end of the box there is a ring. To make 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 117 



it appear to the audience that you actually restore life to a 
bird, you must have two birds just alike ; you have one se- 
creted under the table, (trick-table;) you then in presence 
of the audience kill the other, and request some one to put 
it in this box and put the top on the box ; after they have 
put the top on, you take the box and set it on your trick 
table, then take your handker hief and tie one corner to 
the ring that is in the solid end of the box, and then bring 
your handkerchief over the top of the box ^nd pretend to 
to.be tying- the other corner to the other ring, but before 
you tie it, push the end of the I ox in and take out the dear 
bird, at the same time put in the live one, then catching 
the ring, pull out the end and tie the handkerchief in that 
ring also ; then take the box and turn it over a time or 
two. after which remove the handkerchief and ask some one 
to take the top off the box, and as he does, out flies the 
living bird, which greatly astuiiishes those who witness 
the trick. 

To Change Salt into Sugar.— This, as the 

the two preceding tricks, and many others that might be 
mentioned if necessary, is done with the same box, except 
after you have placed a cup of salt in the box, and you have 
tied the handkerchief ovei it as in the bird trick, you then 
take a little lump of sugar and place it on the top of the 
box, after which say some mystic words, then take the hand- 
kerchief off, and ask som 5 one to lift the top off, and tike 
out the cup of salt, which to their astonishment is a cup of 
sugar. 

Turning a Glove into a Bird, etc.— This 

is done precisely in the same way, and with the s me box 
that restoring life to a bird is done, except instead of kill- 
ing a bird, you borrow a glove from a lady present, and 
drop it into the box, then proceed as in the above trick. 

Tlie Magic Ring.— Make a ring large enough to 
?o on the second or third finger, in which let there Le set 



118 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



a large transparent stone, to the bottom of which must be 
fixed a small piece of black silk, that may be either drawn 
aside or expanded by lurning the stone round. Under the 
silk is to be the figure of a small card. 

Then make a person draw the same sort of card as that 
at the bottom of the ring, you tell him to burn it with the 
candle. Having first shown him the ring, you take part of 
the burnt card, and reducing it to powder, you rub the 
stone with it, and at the same time turn it artfully about, 
•o that the small card at the bottom may come in view. 

The Card in the Opera Glass.— Provide an 

opera glass about two inches and a half long, the tube of 
which is to be of ivory, and so thin that the light may pass 
through it. In this tube place a lens of two inches and a 
quarter focus, so that a card of about three-quarters of an 
inch long may appear the size of a common card. At the 
bottom of the tube there is to be a circle of black paste- 
board, to which must be fastened a small card with figures 
on both sides, by rwo threads of silk, in such manner that, 
by turning the tube, either side of the card may be visible. 

You then offer two cards in a pack to two persons, which 
they are to draw, and that are the same as those in the 
glass. After which you show each of them the card h« 
has drawn, in the glass by turning it to the proper position. 

The better to induce the parties to draw the two cards, 
place them first on the top of the pack, and then by making 
the pass bring them to the middle. When you can make 
the pass in a dexterous manner, it is preferable, on many 
occassions, to the long card, which obliges you to change 
the pack frequently ; for otherwise, it would be observed 
that the same card is always drawn, and doubtless occasion 
suspicion. 

The InexaustiMe Bottle.— This well-known 

trick has many puzzling points for those who witness M'Al- 
ister, Wyman or Anderson pour over one hundred glasses 
of liquor from a small bottle ; and, what adds to the aston- 
ishment of the audience, is to see ten or twenty kinds flow 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 119 



from the bottle. This trick is thus explained: The glasses 
are so small that a quart bottle will fill seventy-five or a 
hundred 5 the glasses are arranged on a tray in a particular 
manner by the wizard before the performance begins. The 
bottle is filled witbf the following mixture : spirits of win,e, 
water and sugar; in the bottom of each glass is a drop or 
two of Paul de Veres' Flavoring Extract, as Noyeau, 
Vanilla, Lemon, Punch, Essence of Brandy, Port, Sherry, 
etc. You are thus enabled to convert a tolerable resem- 
blance of any fluid that is likely to be called for, and you 
can thus supply more than one hundred persons a half sip 
of their favorite beverage from the inexhaustible bottle. 

To Melt a Coin in a Nnt-shell.— Take 

three parts of nirre, freed from its water of cryst lization, 
and one of very fine dry saw-dust, and rub them intimately 
together. If a portion of this powder be pressed down in 
a walnut shell, and a small silver or copper co n, rolled up, 
be laid on the powder, and then the shell be filled with 
more powder, pressed down closely, and then ignited, the 
coin will be found melted at the bottom, whilst the shell 
will only be blackened. 



WHAT SORT OF KISSES 
Different Women Love best. 



Our Northern and our Southern misses 
Iiip-servicc love, and doat on kisses; 
A stolen kiss the first will capture, 
The second ones embrace with rapture. 
A Russian lass her lover clips, 
And seems to grow upon his lips ; 
Circassian Maids (their pleasure height'ning) 
Electric kisses choose like lightning, 
While Turkish fair ones kiss and toy, 



120 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



And linger to prolong their joy. 

Italian virgins, who are vainer, 

Are fond of hunting liks Diana, 

Until, o'ertaken out of breath, 

They're ready to be kissed to death v 

A Spanish Bonaroba ever 

Appears so loth her lips to sever. 

From him she worships— they entwine 

Like two fond branches of a vine. 

A German, Swiss, or Dutch adorer 

Kiss slow and sure, resembling Flora, 

Who kisses every fruit tree slowly, 

Producing blossoms sweet and holy. 

French belles, who lure us with their eyes, 

All dearly love to tantalize ; 

And British damsels, rather silly, 

Appear at first extremely chilly, 

Yet all the while their hearts, like fruit, 

Grow ripe for every kiss takes root 

Upon their nervous lips— a rover 

Might then be kissing them all over. 

A Welsh girl likes an amorou« fight, 

And while you kiss her, she will bite, 

Covuls'd delirious with delight. 

A Scottish Lassie would ye court I 

Salute her, for she loves the sport, 

And frolic with the winsome fairy, 

As Burns once wooed his Highland Mary ; 

And the Shelahs ! Erin's houris, 

(We do not mean Hibernian Fairies), 

But Irish Beauties— mind the rumor, 

To kiss them " when they're in the humor.* 

Between brunettes and blonds, the art 

Of kissing soon is learned by heart ; 

One likes it slow, the other quick, 

Some like to pause and play a trick ; 

Nor give their vital spirits vent, 

Like past endurance, when they swoon I 

While many, full of devilment, 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 121 



Will prematurely crave a boon. 

Thus women may be caught like fishes, 

If we have baits to meet their wishes. 

Man feels a thrilling titilation, 

Electrified in every nation, 

To kiss the girls by inspiration. 

Fair Eve returned what Adam gave her, 

(Forbidden fruit), she liked the flavor; 

And kissing always goes by favor. 



A Competence within the reach of alL 



Money-making Pursuits for the Honest and 
Industrious. 



Process simple— Profits enormous. 

The Crystal Honey, with respect to which we shall 
now endeavor to give you information, is an article of very 
superior excellence, and fast receiving universal favor for 
general use at the table of private families, and at public 
hotels. 

The Bee, you are aware, is the most industrious of 
winged insects — indefatigably active in roaming from flower 
to flower, culling sweets from all, and, with those sweets, 
many of the medical properties of the shrubs from the 
flowers of which the bees gather their honey. The busy 
bee may thus be said to be a natural chemist — chemist of 
nature. Hence, the nutritious and medical properties of 
pure honey, and of the value of honey for universal family 

The foregoing idea made it a desideratum to endeavor 
to manufacture honey on bee principles, with the view to 
benefit society with the blessing of a plentiful supply. 

Long-continued perseverance, vast research, and much 



122 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



close examination into the nature and properties of plants, 
with consequent large expenditure of time (which is money) 
and of money itself, the means of making Honey on Bee 
principles was successfully ascertained, and the celebrated 
Crystal Honey is the result. 

The means or mode of prepaiing it are duly secured by 
letters patent, and as the law exacts heavy penalties for the 
smallest breach of such letters patent you will comprehend at 
a glance why we have made ourselves secure in the possession 
of our recipe. 

There are persons who offer recipes of a similar charac- 
ter. These persons have stolen a certain portion of our 
recipe, but not daring to copy it entire, the processes they 
sell are, of course, entirely icorthless. We only mention 
these facts that those who have not yet been victimized 
may avoid the sweetened baits spread to catch them. 

All persons are more or less aware that honey should be 
in the possession of every houshold, and it would be so, if 
every family could have it at a moderate price, and without 
trouble to obtain it. As a health-establishing nutriment in 
the chamber of the invalid, and as a delicious luxury for 
the table, Crystal Honey cannot be too much approved 
nor too highly recommended. Hitherto, all honey has been 
so scarce, however, and so difficult to manufacture — -for that 
is the proper term — thousands have had to forego the use 
of it. 

Disappointment of bee-raisers is proverbial. It is said 
to be as difficult to manage a few hives of bees as it is to 
take proper charge of a cotton mill. Hence, the great 
scarcity of honey, and hence the great value of our recipe 
for making the beautiful Crystal Honey, which we are 
herein drawing your special attention to. 

Our already stated elaborate researches have abrogated 
the necessity of bee process in the preparation of this 
necessary and delicious life-preserver. This recipe, there- 
fore, is the sublime mode of producing honey in every 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 123 



respect as good as that made by bees, without any of the 
risks or other disadvantages consequent upon depending 
on the hive method alone for the needful supply. 

One of the ingredients of the Crystal Honey, we. ic 
all candor, may frankly inform you of: it is the nutrition* 
bark of the slippery elm, pulverized — a small quantity of 
which will change a common milk pail full of wtrm water 
into a milk-pailful of substantial, rich, creamy, bee-honey- 
consiatenoy liqufd 

Now, the medical virtue of the bark of slippery elm 73 
well known ; it invigorates the decaying — affo.ds strength 
to the weak, energy to the spirits of the s rong — purifies 
the scrofulous, and gives relief to the dyspeptic. Bark of 
slippery elm is given with good effect even to infants. It 
contains more or less of the medical virtues of all plants in 
creation. Hence its transparent assimilation to the re- 
searches of the bees throughout the flower glories of expansive 
nature. 

These facts are brought to your special notice that you 
may the better be able fullv to recognize the value of tho 
life-preserving, sickness-dispelling excellence of the am- 
brosial Crystal Honey prepared from our celebrated 
recipe. 

There are eight other articles (components) besides the 
slippery elm bark (pulverized), anyone of which absent, it 
would not be possible to cieate the bee-principle-consistency 
and flavor universally conceded as appertaining, in the 
completest sense, to our proverbially pure Crystal Honey. 

Tested by Agriculturists, Chemists and Others. 

"""" 
For the satisfaction of fathers of families and of physi- 
sicians, the Crystal Honey has triumphantly passed the 
jeverest ordeaj of learned scrutiny. The genuine propert- 
ies and high character of our Crystal Honey thui 



1 24 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



proved, we hope, to your entire satisfaction, we will novf 
enumerate 

ADVANTAGES AND PROFITS 

to result from its manufacture and use. » 

Our Crystal Honey is, for the price at which it sells,' 
the most reasonable sacharine article to be found in any 
portion of the globe. 

By making it agreeably to the instructions contained in 
the recipe, one hundred pounds weight of the Honey can 
be made in less than half an hour. In six hours, more 
honey can be produced by the same process than all the 
bee raisers in the United States could supply the market 
with in as many years. Hence, the great importance and 
high value of our Crystal Honey Recipe. 

The Honey can be manufactured at. less than seven cents 
per pound. It can be sold any where in as large quantities 
as you may choose to make, and it will bring twenty-five 
cents the pound. This is no untruth. It is a fact. The 
profit on the manufacture may, thus, be readily and reliably 
calculated. It will be found worthy of your own and, 
friends' 1 earnest consideration. For the very inconsiderable 
investment of less than seven dollars (without any risk) you 
get twenty-five dollars return, and in that proportion (25 
for 7), for all the capital you may so invest. But we will 
point out, in figures, prospective profit : 

100 lbs. cost (say) $ 7 sell for $ 25 Profit $ 18 

500 " 35 " 125 " 90 

1,000 " 70 " 250 " 180 

10,000 " 700 " 2,500 " 1,800 

A very pretty (so far) annual income, in extent a pros- 
pective fortune : obtainable with small outlay, little trouble, 
and no absolute risk. 

You will perceive, with our recipe, financial independ* 
ence is present with you ; a fact which fathers of families 
and business industry must duly appreciate. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 125 

A.8 a matter of saving prudence, the Crystal Honey 
will take, as a preserve, the place of butter, and gain con* 
tinued favor from housekeepers for tea and breakfast use, 
as well as, also, for an after-dinner luxury, to eat with 
seasonable fruits and nuts. 

Properly made (according to directions) the Crystal 
Honey will be found to appear like amber, clear and fresh 
— -free from wax, and unfomenting, Wee the direct produce 
of the hive. It will also keep in any climate. 

Ordinary kitchen utensils of farmers or others are alone 
necessary for making the Honey, and it will be clearly 
perceived that, in calculating the demand for every popu- 
lous village or town, the manufacture of the arti le, as a 
business, will, in a short time, more than double the 
amount of any capital of all who may devote attention to 
the subject. 

Regulations for Sale of Crystal Honey Recipe. 

Should you entertain any doubt in regard to the quality 
or appearance of our Honey> we will, on receipt of thirty 
cents (to pay postage thereof), forward a small gallipot or 
jar sample of the Honey to your address, by regular mail 
— a cheaper and safer way of sending it than by express. 
Stamps may be remitted. 

When you are fully satisfied of the advantages to accrue 
to you from the disposal of it, we will send you the Recipe, 
and the exclusive privilege in the form of a contract {printed 
and stamped), to manufacture and sell it in a town, for the 
small sum of Five Dollars. Those applying first will of 
course have the first choice of territory. 

Rights to manufacture and sell in a town, as soon as dis- 
posed of by us, are immediately recorded, with names of 
the purchasers, so that any infringement of the rights 
granted may be readily discovered. Every honorable pur- 
chaser will, however, comply with our terms, and not, in 



126 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



any case, manufacture or sell in a town for which he or she 
may not have paid the stipulated consideration. Exclusive 
rights for large cities are disposed of separately, and for 
larger sums, as circumstances or population may warrant. 
No rights will be disposed of for less than Five Dollars. 
The Recipe is worth more than that sum for family use alone. 
N. B. All who address us on the subject of the Ckystal 
Honey will take care to write the name of their respective 
Town, County and State, with, also, our own address, so 
plainly as to prevent the possibility of mistakes. Address 

DR. R. F.YOUNG & CO., 
No. 599 Broadway, N. Y. 



TESTIMONIALS. 

Eden, McKean, Co., Pa. 
Dear Sirs : — Yours, containing recipe, came duly to 
hand. I have made some of the honey, and found it all it 
was recommended to be. It is truly marvellous to contem- 
plate how the science of chemistry can be made subser- 
vient tomans' wishes, in thus imitating so perfectly the na- 
tural product of the busy bee. It sells very readily here at 
fair prices, and is prefered by many to the genuine article 
Please let me know if you have sold the right of Burtville 
if not, I will take it. Yours truly, J. D. Lefferts. 

Lebanon, Pa. 
Dear Sirs: — The sample I sent for I have received 
safely by mail. I am very well pleased with the appear 
ance and taste of the honey, and find it difficult to convince* 
my folks that it is not a genuine article of superior flavor. 
I enclose $5, for which I wish you to send me recipe and 
right for this town, as I intend to go right to work in iti 
manufacture and sale. Yours respectfully, A. e. Lawrence. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 127 



T ILLIAMSPORT, In<L 

Dear Sirs : — The receipe, for making a superior ar- 
ticle of honey, you sent me, I have used with the greatest 
success. My only purpose in sending for it was to maka 
use of it in my own family, but it is so superior an artice 
that I should find no difficulty in selling a larger quantity 
than I have hitherto made up. Write me the lowest price 
for the right of this country. If you have sold no other 
town rights in it yet, I shall want it. Yours truly, 

E. H. Wilkinson. 



Alba, Pa. 
Dear Sirs : — The honey made according to your recipe 
gives complete satisfaction to all who have tried it in this 
vicinity, and I am doing a good business in its manufacture 
and sale. 1 wish to extend my operations, however and 
in this letter please find $5 for the right of Carbondale. 
This town, and the one I now have the right of, will give 
me sufficient employment for the present. Send me etc* 
Yours truly, James Osborn. 



A Trade of a most L*ucratiTe Charac- 
ter. — When we last had occassion to visit Venice — for 
with Byron we say — 

" I stood in Venice, on the bridge of sighs, 
A palace and a prison on each hand.'' — 

We noticed that many persons who had an excellent edu 
nation, dressed and lived well, and mixed in good society- 
iyere known to be witnout property. They had incomes, 
ve were told, but no estates. A great many of these peo- 
>le would disappear from sight a day or two in the week 
Jid nobody knew where they went. In fact, this thing 
/as so generally practised that none of the Vsnetians, from 



128 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



being used to : : ■ any attention to the matter. Being 
strangers, it naiufftUy attracted our notice, and finally ex- 
cited our curiosity vastly. We are of a very inquisitive 
turn of mind, as our readers are no doubt aware by this 
time. To learn every thing that seemed worth knowing, 
has been our motto through life, and we almost feel like 
welcoming death for the sake of penetrating the mysteries 
of the world of spirits. In the house where we lodged 
was an Anonis of a fellow, who had fine apartments, and 
who enjoyed all the creature comforts available in the c:ty 
of the Adriatic. He dressed superbly, always had monev, 
and lived altogether as well as many a small continental 
prince, but we were told he did not possess a ducat's worth 
of property. 

"Was he an opera singer?" We asked. "No." "A 
Musician V 7 " No." " An author ?" fi No." " A poli- 
tician ?" " No." " A government spy V\ " No." " A gam- 
bler?" " No, no, no." 

Well, what could he be, then ? we thought and asked 
ourselves the question a thousond times. Surely he had 
not discovered the philosopher's stone, or found a gold 
mine ! His money must come from somewhere, there was 
no denying that. We observed that he, too, was missing 
two days of every week, and that none of our fellow-lod- 
gers (several of them had their days of disappearance also) 
chose to know or suspect any thing of the nature of the 
business that occupied his attention during those curious 
days. 

We cultivated his acquaintance, and after a while suc- 
ceeded in gaining his confidence. Finally, we ventured 
in a delicate manner, to introduce the subject of his absence 
from his outside haunts for two" days of every week — speak- 
ing of it in a playful way, and skilfully alluding to the fact 
that we were strangers, which accounted for our inquisi- 
tiveness. He seemed disconcerted at first, but in a few 
moments recovered his affability and equanimity of temper, 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 12$ 



and promised to satisfy our curiosity at his earliest con- 
venience. 

About a week after this conversation was held he said to 
u?, with a serious air : 

11 To-morrow, I vanish again." 

" And the reasons — " we began. 
- "Shall be made known to you then. At what time do 
you rise ? 

" With the sun," we answered. 

" At sunrise, then, I will knock at the door of your cham- 
ber. You will be dressed." 

" Are we to go out, then ?" we asked. 

"Oh no ; you need not take off your robe de ckambre ;" 
he replied with a smile. 

He was at our door the next morning at the appointed 
time, and it is perhaps needless to say that we were " up 
and dressed," waiting to receive him. In silence he con- 
ducted us to his own apartments, entered with us, and after 
carefully securing us from interruption by the aid of bolts 
and bars, bade me to be seated. Taking a seat beside me, 
he said: 

" You see, signors, every man has his secret. Mine is 
is life, wealth, every thing to me. I am the younger son of 
a noble family, the heads of which died in poverty, leaving 
me nothing but an excellent education and robust constitu- 
tion. I found it necessary earn money in order that I 
might not starve, and I was determined to do so without 
suiting my family name by becoming a shopman, or a re- 
cognized mechanic, I also made up my mind to avoid 
con ti nous, vulgar labor; in short, I settled, with myself to 
live like a gentleman, as a man of my birth ought to dp. 
Perseverance will accomplish any thing, mon cheri ami. 
After repeated failures, I hit upon a plan by which I am 
enabled to do all this and more. Look here." 

He arose from his seat, and pulled what had appeared 
jo us to be a damask table-cloth spread over an ordinary 



130 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



tabic, away from where it was lying-, and revealed a neat 
stand, with drawers, etc. U|>on this stand were lying, in 
various stages of preparation, a number of plates of glass. 
We approached and examined them. We had the seen t 
of the Venetian's income at once. He was an etcher and 
engraver on glass ! The art, he assured us, had for a long 
time been lo-t, but in looking over some old monkish 
MSS. he had been fortunate enough to acquire the informa- 
tion necessary to revive it. The etchings and engravings 
were most beautiful — better than any thing of the kind 
that could be imagined. We gazed upon them with un- 
feigned delight, while he went on talking, as follows: 

44 This beautiful art, apparently so difficult, is as simple 
as the alphabet. It involves no labor — indeed it is a 
splendid recreation. I can dispose of all I choose to do at 
the very highest prices, and still maintain my position in 
society, for I rank M an artist, and a superior one at that. 
Yet the whole art consists of a few words that can be writ- 
ten upon one of your pocket tablets. It comprises merely 
n chemical secret, readily undersood by the commonest 
mind, and accomplished, without previous study or prepar- 
ation, by a pretty girl or any other individual. The pro- 
cess scarcely soils your hands, if you are careful enough to 
wear gloves. And now, signers, that you have my secret, 
keep it." 

" But the process — "we eagerly said. 

"Is known only to me of us. I shall not disclo^ it." 

This declaration he made so abruptly, that we fo»-l ore to 
trouble him any further upon the subject at the lim *. 

Two months after that we left Venice, never to return. 
Just as we were ready to start, our Adonis of a friend 
placed a neat little package in our hands, and bade us 
good-bye We have never seen nor heard of him since. 

The package contained full account of his process of 
etching and engraving on glass. We have it yet, and will 
dispose of it to any person who will send us two dollars. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 131 

We will mail it to any part of the United State3. It is so 
clearly written that there can be no difficulty in understand- 
ing it, and it is just as the Venetion said, as simple as it is 
beautiful. We should think that forty or fifty dollars a 
week could be easily made by it; but that of course de- 
pends upon the intelligence and aptitude of the person 
practicing it. The knowledge would not be dear at twenty 
times the sum we charge for it. 

To Engrave on Steel and Copper,— Most 

persons imngine that to be a good engraver on steel or cop- 
per, one must serve a tedious and laborious apprenticeship, 
and that in order to obtain excellence in the practice of the 
craft, peculiar genius and taste must exist. All this is a 
gross mistake — one of those mistakes which, for want of 
pains are seldom or ever explained away, This one, how- 
ever, we will expose effectually. Steel and copper-plate 
engraving can be done by anybody over fifteen years of age, 
and we can teach the whole art in an hour. We have the 
whole process neatly printed. The explanation is thorough 
— not the *<mnlle8t piece of information is left unsupplied, 
and with this bit of paper before you, and the brains to un- 
derstand it, you can engrave on copper or steel with the 
best b nk note engraver in the conutry. 

We are aware that this seems incredible — that it has an 
odor of humbug about it. But, dear reader, the humbug 
is not on our side of the house ; but on your own. You 
have been giving credence to the humbug story — a spuiious 
tale of mystery — all your li e, concerning these arts, and 
now that we tell you it is no more difficult to engrave in 
the manner we have mentioned than it is to make a pud- 
ding, or compound a bar of soap, you feel inclined to 
doubt us. 

Well, doubt ; but you can have your doubts removed at 
small cost. We make you an offer publicly — an offer that 
common sense will tell you we would not dare to make if 
it were not a sound one, and we were not able to to fulfill 



132 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



it to the letter — to teach you the mysteries of steel and 
copper-plate engraving at once. Upon receipt of our pro- 
cess you may at once proceed to engrave, and after a 
week's practice you will be able to turn out plates as valu- 
able and as serviceable as any done by the ordinary engra- 
ver who served a term of years as an apprentice. Some 
mny not require a week's practice to do this, and others 
may require a fortnight's or a month's practice, but these 
latter people cannot be of our kind ; they must be exceed- 
ingly doltish, and ill-calculated to do anything above saw- 
ing wood or peeling potatoes. 

We have not room to tell how we became acquainted 
with these valuable processes, nor is it necessary that we 
should. It is enough that we possess them. We will re- 
mark that these processes would be doubly serviceable to a 
wood engraver, or to persons who draw or paint well. By 
this we would not have it understood that they are not use- 
ful and renumerative to those who neither draw nor paint 
— for they are. 

The articles to be used for either etching or engraving on 
copper or steel (our processes tell how to do etchings a3 
well as linen engraving) are not at all costly. The mate- 
rial that costs the most is the plate. The price of that, of 
course, depends upon the size. It is easily procured. 

These processes, inculcating in a few hours, two money- 
making arts, that it has cost its professors seasons of toil 
and thousands of dollars to learn — may be obtained for two 
dollars ($2). This sum enclosed to us with a postage 
stamp, will ensure the processes by return of mail. It is 
needless to point out the advantages of such knowledge 
The reader already understands and is prepared to ac- 
knowledge them. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 133 



Diseases of the Organs of Generation, 



Our readers having attentively considered the anatomy of the pio- 
pagative organs, we will now proceed to speak of their diseases, 
the cause and treatment. The diseases known by the general term 
of S3'-philis or venereal diseases, and arising from impure coition, ap- 
pear generally in three forms, gonorrhoea, chancres, and bubo. — 
These sometimes exist alone, and sometimes together. The first 
named disease is one of the first and most frequent complaints of 
the generative apparatus. We would direct your attention to the 
description of this disease, and many symptoms liable to be mis- 
taken for it. 

Gonorrhoea, Morbid Secretions, and Instability of 
the Urethra.— There are many secretions common to the 
urethra, such as those afforded by the various glands for the pur- 
pose of lubrication, Ac. ; and the lining membrane of the passage 
yields.a moisture for its own protection, like the membrane of many 
other organs, such as the eyes, nose, mouth, and so forth, and these 
secretions may become unhealthy or vitiated, and give rise to 
symptoms that lead on to confirmed disease ; and, what is still more 
remarkable, may assume many of the characters and appearance 
of gonorrhoea, but they rarely induce sach constitutional disturb- 
ances as clap. The symptoms, consequences, and duration of clap 
form its distinguishing features from any other discharge of the 
urethra ; it is very important that such distinction should be un- 
derstood, for the treatment of the two affections differs most mate- 
rially ; the one, an affection of weakness, and the other of an 
inflammatory and pestilential nature. The symptoms of clap are 
as follows ; there is usually first felt an uneasy sensation at the 
mouth of the passage or urethra. The patient is frequently called on 
to arrange his person ; that uneasy sensation sometimes amounts to 
an itching (occasionally of a pleasurable kind; the feeling extends a 
little way up the penis ; there is oftentimes an erection and a desire 
for intercourse, which, if indulged in, the sooner developes the 
disease. The itching alone will not convey the disease from one 
person to another ; but if intercourse be held, the action of the 
inflamed vessel is accelerated, and a purulent secretion which i« 
Infectious is urged forth and emitted with the semen ; therefore the 
very symptoms of the tingling or itching, for it rarely exists in 



134 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



healthy nrothroe, should be noticed, and Intercourse be avoided 
until it shall have ceased. 

About this time is perceived a slight heat on passing water, or at 
the conclusion of the act , and shortly after, or may be before, a 
yellowish discharge is observed oozing from the mouth of the glans 
or nut of the penis: the symptoms then rapidly advance, unless 
ttimely and judicious means be adopted to palliate them or effect a 
cure ; the scalding becomes intense, and the pain and smarting con- 
tinue some time after each operation of passing water ; the 
discharge becomes profuse, and clots on the linen, and con- 
tinues to ooze out with little intermission ; the orifice of the 
urethra looks red and inflamed, and the glans itself swells and is 
occasionally extremely tender : the foreskin or prepuce sometimes 
but fortuately not ahvays, becomes swollen, and tightened over the 
nut of the penis, from which it cannot be drawn back, constituting 
that form of the disease known by the name of ph3 T mosis. 

When that is the case other annoyances ensue ; the purulent 
matter collects around the glans ; excoriations, ulcerations, and 
sometimes warts, and the consequence ; the whole symptoms be- 
come thereby much aggravated. It also happens that the perpuce 
from inflammation assumes a dropsical appearance, that is to say. the 
edges or point swell, and appear like a bladder filled with water ; 
thus, the size which the penis arrives at is enormous, and to the 
patient very alarming ; it usually, however, subsides a day or two, 
if rest and proper measures be employed. The glans with some peo- 
ple, is always bare, and the foreskin drawn up around it. Such a 
state may be induced also by disease : in either case, it may become 
so inflamed as to resist any effort to draw it over the glans, and 
from the swelling and consequent pressure on the penis, a kind of 
ligature is created ; and instances have been known where the most 
disasterous results have ensued. The circulation of the blood in the 
g'ans is checked ; the nut puts on a black appearance, and if the 
ligature be not removed or divided, mortification takes place, and 
the tip or more of the penis sloughs off or dies away. This state of 
the prepuce is called paraphymosis ; it sometimes happens to young 
la Is, who. having an indicated opening of the foreskin, endeavor to 
uncover the glans ; they succeed, but are unable to pull the pre- 
puce back again. They either take no further notice of it, or else 
become frightened, but conceal the accident they have committed : 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 135 



Iti ft few hours, the parts become painful, swell, and all the Pheno- 
mena above detailed ensue. 

The next proceeding which will probably be induced, will be an 
extension of the inflammation to the bladder ; the Symptoms are a 
frequent desire to make water, and occasionally ulceration of the 
membrane lining the bladder follows, when a quantity of muco- 
purulent matter is discharged, which, mingling with the urine gives 
it the appearance of whey. Now and then the bladder takes on 
another form of disordered function ; the patient will be seized 
with retention of the urine, that is, a total inability to discharge his 
water, except by the aid of the catheter. A new and most perplex- 
ing feature about this stage of the proceeding is perceived ; it is 
what is called chordee. The existing irritation excites the penis to 
frequent erections, which are of the most painful nature. The penis 
is be4it downward ; the occasion is, the temporary agglutinization 
of some of the cells of the sorpora cavernosa through inflammation, 
and the distension of the open ones by the arterial blood, thereby 
putting the adherent cells on the stretch, and so constituting the 
curve, and giving rise to the pain. The symptom is frequently a 
verj r long and troublesome attendent upon a very severe clap ; it is 
moreannoying, however, than abso utely painful, as it prevents 
sleep, it being present chiefly at night-time when warm in bed. 

Occasionally the glands in the groin enlarge and are somewhat 
painful ; they sometimes, but very rarely swell and break ; they 
more frequently sympathise with the adjacent irritation, and may 
be viewed as indications of the amount of general disturbance pre- 
sent ; as the patient gets better the glands go down, leaving a slight 
or scarcely perceptible hardiness as it were to mark where they 
had been. The most painful of all the attendant phenomena of clap 
is swelled testicle, or, as in general phraseology it is called Hernia 
humoralis. 

The first indication of the approach of the last named affection is 
a slight sense of fulness in the testicle, generally the left first, al- 
though occasionally in the right, sometimes one after the other, but 
rarely both togetber ; a smart twinge is now and then felt in the 
back upon making any particular movement : the testicle becomes 
sensibly larger and more painful, the chord swells also and feels like 
ft hardened cord in the groin ; the patient is soon incapacitated from 
walking, or walks very lame; if the inflammation be not subdued by 
some means, and if the patient be of a " burning temperament," 



136 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

that is of a very inflammatory constitution, fever is soon set up, and 
the patient is laid upon a " sick bed." There is no form of the com- 
plaint so dangerous to negleet as swelled testicles : they have some- 
times been known to burst or become permanently callous and 
hardened, and ever after wholly unfit for procreative purposes ; in 
other instances, they have entirely disappeared by absorption ; in 
fact, all diseases of the testicles intefere with the generative power. 
At the onset of inflammation there may be a brief increase of sexual 
appetite, but when the structure of the testicle becomes altered or 
impaired, the appetite is subdued or wholly lost ; there is such a 
wonderful sympathy betwixt all parts of the generative economy 
of man, that if one portion only be injured, the ordinary end of sex- 
ual union is frustated. 

The gonorrheal poison is capable of producing a similar discharge 
from other parts to which it may be applied besides the urethra. It 
has been conveyed by means of the finger or towel to the eyes and 
nose ; and a prurient secretion (attended with much pain and incon- 
venience, indeed with great danger, when the eye becomes so at- 
tacked), has oozed plentifully therefrom. Gonorrhoea is an infec- 
tions disorder, and consequently is communicable by whatever 
means the virus be applied. It certainly is possible, and (if we are 
to believe the assertions ot patients, who are often met with, declar- 
ing they have not held female intercourse, and yet have contracted 
the disease), it certainly is not improbable that it maybe taken up 
from using a water-closet that has been visited by an infectious per- 
son just before. It may also be contracted by using a foul bougie. 

If the gonorrhceal discharge be suffered to remain on particular 
parts of the person, such as around the glans of the penis, or on the 
outside of the foreskin, excoriations, chaps, and warts, spring up 
speedily and plentifully, and protrude through before the prepuce, or 
sometimes become adherent to it ; it therefore only shows how 
necessary cleanliness is in these disagreeable complaints, to escape 
the vexations alluded to. A species of insect also i» apt to appear jc 
about the hairy part of the genital organs, and indeed extend allji 
over the body, particularly in those parts where hair grows, such as fit 
under the arm-pits, chest, head, etc., if cleanliness be not observed 
They are called crabs. The itching they give rise to is very harass 
ing, and the patient, unable to withstand scratching, rubs the part; 
into sores, which in healing, exude little crust3 that break off and 
bleed. When the gonorrhoea has been severe and there has beer 






MEDICAL GUIDE. 137 

much constitutional disturbance, there frequently hang about what 
are called flying rheumatic pains ; and sometimes, if the patient's 
health be much broken up, confirmed rheumatism seizes hold of him, 
and wearies him out of several months of his existence. We have seen 
many a fine constitution, by a tedious ill-treated or neglected gonor- 
rhoea, much injured, that, had the sufferer consulted a medical man 
of even ordinary talent, in the first instance, instead of foolishly 
leaving the disease to wear itself out with the help of this recom- 
mended by one, and that by the other, he might have shaken off the 
| hydra, and have averted the hundred vexations that follow. 

We come now to add to the list ofValamitous consequences, stric- 
tures, which in our opinion, prevails to an enormous extent ; how" 
ever, its consideration will be reserved, as well as the affections of 
i the bladder, and prostate gland, for their proper places. We will 
i simply repeat our impression that a stricture, or narrowing of the 
! urethra has been mismanaged, or its cure unfortunately protracted. 
It is the opinion of many medical men, and it can, no doubt, be 
I borne out by many patients, that a gonorrhoea If unattended by any 
untoward circumstance, will wear itself out, and that the duration 
: of such a proceeding is from one to two months ; there is no disput- 
ing but such has been, and is now and then the case, but such rarely 
stand even so fair a chance of recovery as to be left entirely alone : 
means, are seldom followed up ; either the patieut lives gloriously 
free, or else goes to the opposite extreme. 

The cases of gleet which seek medical relief are more numerous 
as most professional men must be aware, than those of gonorrhoea, 
seldom escapes the terminus of a gleet. 

The distinguishing feature of gleet from gonorrhoea is that it is not 
considered infectious : it consists of a discharge ever varying in 
color and consistence ; it is the most troublesome of all urethric 
derangements, and doubtlessly helps more to disorganize the delicate 
mucous membrane lining the urinary passage than even the severest 
clap. Its action is constant though slow ; and subject as we are to 
alternations of health, of which even the urinary apparatus partakes, 
it is not to be wondered at that a part of our system which is so fre- 
quently being employed, should "became disturbed at last, and that 
stricture and all its horrors should form a finale ; but as gleet and 
stricture form in themselves such important diseases, we shall de- 
vote a chapter to the consideration af each separately. 



138 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



This is divided into two methods— the one denominated the A nil- 
phoglistic, the other Specific. The Antiphoglistic is a term applied 
to medicines, plans of diets, and other circumstances, that tend to op- 
pose inflammation, by a diminution of the activity of the vital pow- 
ers whereby the inflammation is subdued, and nature rights herself 
again of her own accord. The Specfiic implies a reliance upon a 
particular remedy, which is supposed at once to set about curing 
the disease. 

Now, both these plans are successful in curing gonorrhoea ; but 
the majority of medical men adopt the former method, inasmuch a3 
although it but quietly conducts the case to a successful termination, 
still it does so, whereas the specific, in unskilful hands, is often pro- 
ductive of many annoyances, much delay, and not a always a cure. 

Our plan however is as follows : in the first place we take into con. 
sideration the appearance of the patient ; if he be strong, robust, 
sanguine or full of habit, and youthful— if it be his first attack, and 
if the symptoms be ushered in with any degree of severity, we inva- 
riably and llgidly pursue the antiphlogistic course of treatment ; if 
the case be in a person of phlegmatic temperament, of mature age, 
and the disease be but a repetition of the past, and there be no evi- 
dence of physical excitement, we fearlessly adopt the specific. Where 
in the third place, we encounter a patient with no very prominent 
peculiarity, nor with symptoms demanding extraordinarily active 
measures, experience has taught us the propriety of cautiously 
combining the two methods— a mild aperient had best alwaj r s pre. 
cede a tonic or a stimulant, in cases where there is a doubt of inflam- 
mation lurking in the system ; and, recollecting the tendency our 
complicated organization has when assailed by distemper, to become 
irritable, it is always as important to know when to withhold a 
remedy as when to prescribe one. 

However, to particularize the treatment for each symptom ; to 
commence, we will request the reader to remember that on the first 
appearance of gonorrhoea, attended with an unusual inflammatory 
aspect, the efforts of the patient should be directed toward a'.laying 
the local symptoms, by diminishing the nervous irritability of the 
u rethric passage. 

With this view, no plan surpasses that of bathing the penis in 
warm water, or immersing the entire body in a warm bath. The 
former should be repeated several times in the day ; the latter daily, 
or certainly on alternate days, so long as the severity lasts. 



MEDIQAL GUIDE. 139 

By these means, the parts will be preserved clean, and will derive 
tienefit from the soothing influence of warmth ; and, in many cases, 
this will be the means of averting chordee or swelled testicles. 

Where, however, from peculiar circumstances, warm water and 
warm baths are not to be had, the penis should be bathed in cold 
water, or encircled with pledgets of rags or lint, moistened with 
cold goulard or rose-water. Warm, however, is to be preferred, 
although cold water seldom fails of affording relief.- 

To lessen the acrimony of the urine, which keeps up the irritabili- 
ty, and somewhat to lower the system, all strong drinks, such as ale, 
beer, wine and spirits, should be avoided; and milk, tea, barley- 
water, toast and water, limeed tea, gum arabic in solution, and other 
such mucilagious diluting liquors taken instead. The diet should 
be lowered : in fact, a spare regimen should be adopted, not wholly 
abstaining from animal food, but partaking of it only once in the 
day, and carefuily excluding all salted meats, rich dishes, soups, 
gravies, etc. The usual employment should be suspended, and rest 
should be taken as much as possible in a recumbent posture. 

Of course the preceding remarks apply only to cases of severity ; 
we mean such cases as first attacks ordinarily prove ; and which re- 
marks, if attended to, will greatly mitigate the violence of the disease. 

To assist the foregoing treatment, the aperient medicine, which 
should be repeated, at least, on alternate days, until the inflammation 
is ameliorated, should be followed by some saline or demulcent 
medicine to allay the general disturbance. We annex several of the 
formulas relied upon as suitable by our old school practitioners, but 
we cannot conscientiously recommend them ourselves. Our practice 
embraces the herbal treatment exclusively, with which we undertake 
to cure any species of the foregoing complaints. But we give the re- 
cipes, that our readers may form their own opinion as to their merits. 
Form 1. 

Carbonate ofpotass 1 drachm. 

Nitrate of ditto 1 drachm. 

Mucilage of acacia 5% oz. 

Hydrocyanic acid 10 drops. 

Syrup of Tolu 2 drachms. 

Mix Take a table -spoonful in a wine-glass of water twice daily. 

Form 3. 
Take of— 

Linseed tea > t pint. 



140 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

Spirits of Sweet Nitre .2 drachms. 

Battley's Sedative 6(J drops. 

Mix. Take three table-spoonsful, twice or thrice daily. 

Form 3. 

Where it is inconvenient for a patient to carry a bottle about his 
person, the following electuary, combine the essential ingredients 
of the former two, may be substituted :— 
Take of— 

Lenitive electuary , 2 oz. 

Conserve of roses 2 oz. 

Strong mucilage of acacia 2 oz. 

Nitrate of potass 2 drachms. 

Mix. Dose Two tea-spoonsful twice or thrice a day. 

As temperaments differ and no two cases present precisely the 
same symptoms, let those who are afflicted write to us, detailing the 
full particulars of their case, and on receipt of their letter with $15, 
we will at once send a course of medicines to their address, contain- 
ing advice and medicines without further charge until a cure is 
effected. The first course is sufficient to cure ordinary cases. Ad- 
dress, Dr. R. F. YOUNG & CO., No. 599 Broadway, New- York. 



DYSPEPSIA. 
Its Origin, Symptoms, Patliology and 

Curative Treatment. — The term dyspepsia comes 
from the Greek language, and litemHj means bad diges- 
tion, or difficulty of digestion. To the common render, 
perhaps neither the word dyspepsia nor digestion, rr rather 
we should say indigestion, would convey any idea of the 
peculiar character of the disease which these terms are 
intended to indicate or designate. In plain language, 
dyspepsia or indigestion is a disordered condition of the 
stomach, which prevents the food that we take in at the 
mouth, and after being swallowed enters into the stomach, 
fiom being reduced to pulp, or churned up, preparatory to 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 141 

the mass being converted into chyme, chyle, and afterwards 
venous and arterial blood, intended for the ruddy health 
and elastic vigor of the entire human frame. 

There are several natural processes that take place 
before food can be converted into the nutritive elements 
necessary to sustain the organism. The food is first taken 
into the mouth, as a matter of course. Here ir. is chewed 
up by the teeth, and moistened by a watery secretion called 
saliva, and so rendered fit to pass down a tube back of ihe 
windpipe into the stomach, where it enters in the shape of 
little round balls, and then undergoes further rotary or 
churning procc sses, until the whole stomach is filled with a 
pulpy or jelly-like substance. This solution of food is ac- 
com; lished by a sort of peristaltic motion of the stomach, 
and alternate contraction and dilation of its walls, thus 
producing a churning movement, throwing its contents from 
side to side, so as to come in contact with a peculiar, se- 
cretion called the gastric juice, which is poured out abund- 
antly from millions of minute tubes which are found in the 
inner sMes or walls of the stomach. 

After the food has thus been converted into chyme it 
passes out of ihe stomach through the pylorus or pyloric 
orifice, a duct, or tube, iu the right extremity of it, into the 
second stomach, or duodenum. 

Here the food is further filtered, by means of a yellow 
fluid called bile, which is furnished from the gall-bladder 
in the liver, and poured into the duodenum through a small 
tube called the gall-duct. The contents of the second 
stomach are likewise mixed with a peculiar fluid called the 
pancreatic juice. This fluid resembles the saliva of the 
mouth and is poured out from a large gland lying back of 
the stomach, called the pancreas. The commingling nf 
the bile and the pancreatic juice with the food, now con- 
verts chyle, a whitish fluid resembling thin buttermilk. It 
should be stated here that the gastric juice is of an acid 
nature, hence the chyme (a whitish, cream-like, semi-fluid 
mass) has also an acid character. Now, in order to the 



142 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



processes of absorption, assimilation and nutrition, it is 
necessary that this acidity of the chyme should be neutral' 
ized, otherwise it would torment, cause flatulence, irritation, 
pain, and much distress in all parts of the bodv. especially 
in the region of the stomach. Hence the bile, which is an 
alkaline, by mi gli"g with the chyme, in the duodenum, 
neutralizes its acidity, and thus renders it a bland, mild, 
neutral fluid, which is then capable of being kindly received 
by the absorbants ynd welcomed into the life currents of 
the body. 

The food, or chyle, after passing out of the duodenum, 
now enters into the intestines, or the grand channel or 
canal, which leads from the lower extremities of the trunk 
of the body, and carries off all refuse or innu;rilious matter, 
as fceces, etc. While the food is still in the intestines it is 
subjected to a further churning or peristaltic mosement, in 
order to separate the nutritious from the innutiitious matter. 
The term peristaltic means spiral, vermicular, ot worm-like. 
The peristaltic motion of the intestines is performed by the 
contraction of the circular and longitudinal fibres compos- 
ing their fleshy coat-, by which the chyle is driven into the 
orifice of the lacteals, and the excrements are protruded 
towards the anus. The lacteals are distributed all along 
the surface of the intestines. They embrace thousands of 
little absorbing vessels it tubes, their months opening into 
the intestines, These lacteals absorb or drink up from the 
chyle all the nutrith us matter it contains, which is then 
conveyed by other tubes into the veins or channels, called 
blood vessels, which convey the venous blood to the heart, 
thence through the lungs, where it becomes tBrified by 
breathing the atmospheric air, the cnrbonic acid of iho 
system passing out from the lungs while the oxygen is taken 
in, the latter purifying the blood, and changing its color 
from a purple to a bright vermillion, which blood now 
enters the left side of the heart, passing thence by a large 
tube called the aorta into the arteries, which gradually 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 143 



lessen in size until they dwindle into capillaries, or tubes 
finer than the finest hair, or which ca mot be discerned 
under a powerful microscope. It is the arterial blood 
which gives the roses to the cheek and the rich relucent 
color to the healthy skin. All these changes are necessary 
to the enjoyment of good health. It is obvious that withour 
good digestion it is impossible to have sweet, puie blood, 
and ruddy heath. The processes of digestion have no 
import int bearing upon the circulation of the blood. To 
give some id- a of what is meant by circulation, it is proper 
here to say that there are two systems of vessels or organs 
required to complete the same. The venous circulation 
may be compared to a spring of water arising in a moun- 
tain (stomach) which bubbles forth, and meets numerous 
tributaries, rivulets, etc., until a great river is formed, which 
finally divides into branches (the ascending and descending 
vena cava) and finally unite and pour their combined flood 
into the ocean (or right of the heart). Of the venous cir- 
culation may be compared to a tree, standing erect, the 
topmost branches becoming larger and larger until they 
connect with the main trunk of the tree, which m.iy be 
called the vena cava, and the roots, the hearts and lungs. 

The arterial circulation, on the other hand, is quite the 
reverse of this. It is like tracing a vein from its junction 
: with the sea, back through all its branches or tributaries, 
| until finally lost in its obscure fountain source. 

It will at once be seen, that where there is a failure to 
1 perform their offices fully on the part of any of the organs 
\ engaged in preparing the food for nutrition, thrre will be 
Indigestion, which, if not speedily corrected, will ultimate- 
I ly lead to Dyspepsia, one of the most distressing complaints 
to which the human system is 1 able. It is there foie neces- 
■ary that t e stomach should dissolve the food, the liver to 
furnish its bile and the pancreas its juice, in order to ena- 
ble the intestine to perform its peristaltic duty, and the 
lacteals to take up the nutriment which is necessary to form 



144 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



good blood, and afford nourishment and health to the gen- 
eral organism. 

The causes of indigestion are plainly apparent. They 
arise from many things independent of ;he mere action of 
the various organs. 

A healthy digestion depends, 1st. On a proper supply 
of nutritious or digestible food. 

2nd. — Upon complete mastication of the food before it is 
3wallowed. This food should' be thoroughly saturated with 
saliva or secretion of the salivary glands of the mouth 
alone, unmixed with water, or other fluids, in order that 
the gastric juice may act upon it and convert it into proper 
chyme, pulp, or cream. 

3 1. — The gastric juice must flow in adequate quantity, 
and be of a good quality, while the peristaltic or chewing 
motion must take place in the stomach in a natural manner. 

4th. — The liver and pancreas must furnish, when needed, 
a proper supply of bile and pancreatic juice. 

5th. — The intestines must perform their offices in a regu- 
lar manner, by pushing the dissolved lood through them 
towards the anus, while the lacteals must in the meantime 
take up the nutriment from the chyle in order to make 
blood and nourish the organism. It is plain, if any of 
these organs are at fault, there is Indigestion, and ultimately, 
if not corrected, Dyspepsia. Sometimes all these organs 
are at fault. Sometimes only one in reality, although all 
the others must be more or less affected by sympathetic 
response, to any abnormal condition. There may be to > 
much or too little of the gastric juice, or it is of a poor 
quality; or the stomach may have lost its muscular lone 
and strength, which causes the food to lie motionless with- 
in its cavity. When this is the case we will have wind in 
the stomach, a dead, heavy pain, and a peculiar and dis- 
tressing sinking sort of feeling. The liver may be torpid 
or inactive; the bile is either withheld or it is of a vicious 
quality, or there may be an excess of bile. These de- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 145 



rangements will produce fermentation of the food in the 
duodenum, flatulence, cutting pains, and costiveness, or 
irritation of the bowels, with diarrhoea, evacuation, loss of 
strength, &c. 

As a matter of course, the forms, phases, conditions, 
symptoms, and effects of indigestion are exceedingly nu- 
merous, and therefore cannot be described in a single arti- 
cle like the present. The main causes, however, arise 
from sedentary habits, improper diet, and want of proper 
exercise in the open air. 

We have prepared a medicine of most wonderous efficacy 
in all diseases arising from a disordered stomach or Indi- 
gestion, or Dyspepsia. It is a distillation of the juices of 
rare and hitherto unknown plants, gathered in various parts 
of the world, by agents expressly employed by us. We 
have thus a quantity of the freshness and purity of every 
article used in our series of medical preparations. The 
especial compound may be said to be literally an Arterial 
Essence. It has a most wonderful action on the arterial 
system. Its gives the richest vermillion to its color, 
strengthens the corpuscles, thus ensuring the building up 
of healthy flesh structures, and imparting the most buoyant 
health to the most broken down or debilitated constitution, 
by whatever cause induced. 

A complete course of medicine, adapted to every inivid- 
ual case of Dyspepsia, will be sent on receipt of fifteen 
dollars. From those too poor to pay fifteen dollars, twelve 
will be received. Full and specific directions will accom- 
pany each one of these courses of medicine. Cures guar- 
anteed in every case. Address, Dr. R. F. YOUNG & CO., 
,No. 599 Broadway, New-York. 

ALL PERSONS SCIENTIFIC. 

Wltlnin the last few years, science, literature and art, 
have made wonderful progress throughout the civilized 



146 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



world. Our discoveries and inventions have surpassed the 
boldest flights of imagination. Our scientific achievements 
have gone beyond all that could have been anticipated* More, 
and better than this, the result of our investigations, the 
triumphs won, have been popularized, and useful know- 
ledge, no longer a forbidden fruit, has spread its rich and 
varied offerings at the feet of all. The dark days of the 
olden times have passed away, and truths are now brought 
out in all their strength and beauty, that were never seen 
then, while old truths have been given new forms, and new 
proportions — forms so grotesquely represented, proportions 
so exaggerated or undervalued in those same dark days. 
Now the secrets of manufacture are divulged — the labors 
of the man of science, and of the artizan, are opm to all, 
and the world is a great practical schoo', in which every- 
body studies with noble emulation to outstrip his fellows. 
All persons shouid be, to some extent, scientific, and there 
is nothing so useful, and such an aid to the aspirant for 
fame and riches, as a knowledge of chemistry. I do not 
allude to a book knowledge of that science, but to a prac- 
tical knowledge, even if it be only rudimental. Almost 
everyone can fit up a small laboratory with chemicals and 
apparatus at a very small cost — say twenty-live dollars. 
This would buy all the tests and apparatus necessary for 
teaching the general principle of chemistry. Of course 
the above-mentioned sum does not admit of the purchase 
of large apparatus. All the experiments must be perform- 
ed on the small scale; the operator must fashion lis own 
glass instruments out of tubes, and make several of his 
own re-agents ; but these very acts are instructive, and should 
not be underrated. I should not advise any readers to pur- 
chase any of trie portable laboratories which are advertised ; 
let them obtain a blowpipe, a pound or soi)f glass tube, the 
mineral acids, a few re-agents, a little filtering paper, and 
they will have gone a great way towards the purchase of 
the essentials. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 147 

Curability of Consumption. 



Chi the Origin, Nature and Treatment of Con- 
sumption and all otlier Chest or Thoracic Diseases. 
Extraordinary Revelations. Frightful Mortality. 
Remarkable Curative Discoveries. 

The excessive mortality asising from Tuberculous or Pulmonary 
Consumption m<J other diseases of the Glandular and Respiratory 
Organs among people in all parts of the world, and more particularly 
in the United States, might well lead every philanthropic mind to a 
minute investigation of the causes of such extraordinary waste of 
human life, with a view to the discovery of more satisfactory pre- 
ventatives and curative agencies than have hitherto been devised 
and communicated to the people, by the medical practitioners of the 
world. Physicians, indeed, have too long abandoned the possibility 
of "cure, except in the earlier stages of the disease ; hence victim is 
added to victim every hour, and all ages, sexes, and conditions of 
mankind are swept in myriads every year to an untimely grave. 

Medical Science had, of a truth, in regard to Pulmonary affections 
at least, remained literally stationary for more than two thousand 
years, until the beginning of the present century, when medical men 
began to pay greater attention to the Pathology of this disease, and 
to employ remedies for its cure entirely opposite to those which had 
received the sanction of the wisest of Eculapians during the period 
of so many musty cycles of time. The term Pathology, indeed, is 
quite a new word in the medical vocabulary, inasmuch as it was not 
until near the close of the last century that the illustrious physicians 
of France, Laennac, Louis, and Andral, with compeers equally en- 
lightened in Germany and other parts of Europe, began to explain, 
in a scientific manner, the nature of diseases, their causes and 
symptoms. Hence we may affirm if practicing physic without 
intellect constitutes Empiricism, then, surely, the physicians who 
continue to treat diseases after the ancient formulas, are fairly ob- 
noxious to the charge of Quackery, for all such blindly pursue an 
Ignus fatuus, without a principle of science or philosophical judg- 
ment to guide them in diagnosing diseases, and applying adequate or 
appropriate remedies, agreeably to the progress in the ravages of 



148 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



disorder, or the peculiar idiosyncracies of their patients. Indeed, 
Life itself, until of late years, has only been known to the world 
empirically. A knowledge of disease has been acquired in the same 
way, and according to the same guess work manner adopted for their 
cure or amelioration. 

Hence we are pleased to observe that not only Academies of Medi- 
cine are awaking up to the importance of a thorough investigation 
of the origin and nature of Thoracic diseases, but some of our learned 
Geographical Societies have given these momentous subjects their 
serious aud deliberate attention. At a late meeting of the Geogra. 
phical Society of New- York, of which learned body, the Rev. Francis 
Hawks, D. D., is the President, a very valuable paper, being an 
elaborate collection of facts and statistics in relation to Consump- 
tion throughout the world, was read by Dr. Millar. From these 
statistics we have the appalling facts, that at least one-sixth of all 
the deaths among the human race occur from the most formidable 
and terrible disorder — Consumption! In New- York alone, 
according to Dr. Millar, it destroys one-third more lives than all the 
other diseases of the respiratory organs, such as bronchitis, congestion 
and inflammation of the lungs, catarrh, and influenza, hooping- 
cough, asthma, etc. 

By reference to the bills of mortality of any country or city in the 
world, the preponderence of deaths from Consumption will be found, 
as already stated, to be full one-sixth of the deaths from all other 
causes. In some places the waste of life is nearly equal to that from 
all other diseases and casualties combined. This is a startling as- 
sumption ; but a slight investigation will affirm the terrible fact. 

In London, which has a population of about three millions, the 
number of deaths from pulmonary affections, exceeds seven thousand 
annually. In the whole of England, it is computed that sixty thou- 
sand die annually from the same complaints. If to these are added 
numerous other disorders of the respiratory organs, and of the 
heart, it may be fairly estimated that one-half of the deaths in Great 
Britain depend on diseases of the chest or thorax. 

In New York and its environs, estimating the population at one 
million, the deaths from Consumption average about a hundred and 
twenty a week, or over six thousand a year— a waste of life three 
times as large as that of London, according to the relative number 
of people in each city ! Were the mortality equally great in all othe 



'MEDICAL GUIDE. 149 

parts of the United States, rating the population at 35,000,000, the 
aggregate of deaths would swell up to the enormous amount of from 
twenty-five thousand to one hundred thousan.i cases annually ! 

If such data can be substantiated in respect to the mortality from 
Consumption in the United States alone— and who will dare attempt 
to ^fute these appalling facts?— it m.ry be fairly inferred that at 
least ninety millions of the people of the entire globe, die annually 
of Consumption, or are cut off, by one -form or other of chest and 
and throat diseases. Truly, statements like those are utterly bewil- 
dering and astounding; Ah ! All the desolations that have ever 
occurred from plagues, pestilence, famine, and war, in the sum total 
of their horrors, would not begin to compare with the million and 
millions of souls that have been swept from time to eternity by the 
unerring shafts of that insidious monster Consumption— literally, 
Death personified, and stalking abroad on his "pale horse," crush- 
ing and hurling down his victims on every hand in inconceivable 
myriads. 

Imagine for a moment, the extent of a grave-yard capable of 
containing the bodies of those who die of Consumption in a single 
year. Imagine their graves stretched in a single line, and then cal- 
culate the miles of dead— human beings literally slaughtered, year 
by year in the United States alone, through the stings of the lancet, 
and the horrible poisons administered to the helpless sick, while 
stretched on their beds, or languishing in the quiet sacredness of 
their chambers, by a class of men called physicians— "Medical men" 
groveling in their ignorance and stupidity, and sometimes wearing 
a Diploma entitling them to kill and crucify ad libitum, without 
restraints of law, or fear of the vengence of the gallows. 

In view, then, of the numerous checks and repeated deceptions to 
which physicians are exposed in diagnosing the fearful malady of 
Consumption, the Author of this Book will doubtless be pardoned 
for saying, that it is high time for all physicians to leave the beaten 
track of their grandfathers, and follow some other which is less 
fallable. 

The general lack of success in the use of ordinary means for diag- 
nosing turborcles, for instance, proves that those means are inade- 
quate to the end in view, and physicians should incontinently resort 
to new modes, if they would henceforward be successful in the 
treatment of Consumption. In treating any disease, we ahould 



150 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



first become familiar with its character and pathology ; without 
such knowledge the physician must necessarily grope in the dark, 
and, by consequence, virtually play the assassin, and cowardly mur- 
der his helpless victim, instead of mitigating his sufferings and prov- 
ing a benefactor of the human family. 

Our success in the treatment of Pulmonary Affections, is conclu 
give evidence that our doctrine of Pathology and Curative agencies, 
are at once consistent with Physiological and natural laws and the 
dictates of common sense. We accordingly, after many years of 
most rigid investigation into the nature of Consumption, and expe- 
riments in the herbal preparations for its mitigation and permanent 
cure in its most frightful forms, have at length succeeded in com- 
pounding medicines which may be regarded as perfect sp< cities for 
every form of thoracic disorders. They are composed of essence, 
juices, gums, resins, spices, etc., of a variety of rare plants, not yet 
introduced into the Materia Medica of any country, but which are 
used as curative agents in many climes by the aboriginal inhabit- 
ants, with undeviating success. All these ingredients have under- 
gone the strictest chemical analysis, and are found to contain every 
element requisite for the healthful growth and recuperation of 
every tissue of the human organism— nervous, osseus, muscular, etc. 

In fact, these remedies are the very best nervines ever discovered. 
They strengthen the nervous system in a wonderful manner, regu- 
lates the "nervous influence" and distribute the vital or electric 
force to every part of the system. They correct any acidity of the 
mucous membrane, or alkalinity of the serous surfaces, and by re- 
storing the equilibrium or natural flow of these secretions in their 
proper organs, render more literally a galvanic battery, capable of 
enduring every possible hardship, and maintaining at the same time 
the most rubicund health a\d muscular power and elasticity. 

They act as a superior exhilerant. Are exceedingly soothing in 
their efforts upon the nervous structure; quieting all kinds of mental 
or nervous excitement or irritation, yet gently stimulating the 
functions of every organ to a harmonious fulfillment of their normal 
or natural duties. 

They operate as a tonic and soother in the most emphatic sense of 
the word. Their action on the lungs is exceedingly bland and grate- 
ful. 1 ey regulate the gastric secretions and promote a natural 
solution of food into chyme, neutralizing the acidity of the chyle, 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 



151 



sweetening the blooa, and giving back the lily and the roses to the 
withered, blanched and sallow countenances of the victims of this 
fearful complaint of the lungs and throat. They nourish the pa- 
tient, who is too much prostrated to partake of ordinary food. They 
will supply the place of nutriment, and may be taken with beneficial 
effect by the tenderest or most irritable of comsumptives. 

They add phosphorus to the brain tissue. Supplying eiectric force 
to all the ganglionic centers, and these gives utility and strength and 
energy to every intellectual faculty. In short they are a general 
recuperator of the entire organism. They cover the bones with 
solid flesh, add iron to the blood ; act as a stimulent to the nerves, 
and render the muscles exceeeingly tough, yet elastic nnd pliable. 

Any person thus afflicted, who will send to us a full description of 
their case, all the symptoms, how long the disease has existed, color 
of the skin and countenance, character of the expectorated matter, 
natural or acquired habits, habitual or herditary diseases, tempera- 
ment, other peculiarities of the mental and phys c*l organism will 
be furnished with a complete course of medicines specifically 
adapted to the individual case. We are thus particular in under- 
standing the condition of every patient, as no two cases are pre- 
cisely alike ; in order to ensure successful treatment and to garantee 
a speedy and rapid cure, which we are able to do, in many instan- 
ces of the most formidable character. 

On receipt of fifteen dollars, these medicines, with full and ex- 
plicit directions for the use of each, in every particular case, will 
be forwarded, and a safe delivery of the medicines guaranted. Ad- 
dress Dr. R. F. YOUNG & Co., No. 599 Broadway, New-York. 



THE SECRET OF BEAUTY. 



A method of beautifying the complexion, making 
the skin as soft, and as rosy as a healthy infant's, 
n lid the cure of every cutaneous diseese, or blemish, 
evei known or heard of. 

Ir> making- known, to the patrons of this book, our won- 
derful discovery for beauty and rejuvenating the complexion, 



152 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



it may not be amiss to gratify the pardonable curiosity of 
those who may wish to know how, and in what manner, we 
became poss ssed of it. While m iking our tour of the 
continent of Europe, we stopped in Paris during the win- 
ter season, for the double purpose of familiarizing ourselves 
with much that is useful in the arts and sciences of that 
city, and also that we might be witnesses of the gayeties 
and fellies of this metropolis of fashion, as the season 
at that period was then at ts height. Accordingly, we 
rented apartments in the Rue Martin, choosing, while in 
Paris, to be among the Parisians more entirely, for the pur- 
pose of acquiring a fluency in the language, than if we had 
stopped at a hotel where English and Americans generally 
make it a point to put up. One evening, on returning 
home, we were informed by the landlady of the house, 
that she had a lady boarder who was dangerously ill of 
consumption, and would gratefully appreciate any benefit 
which we might render her. We at once proceeded to her 
apartment ; but a single glance was enough to convince us 
that all human aid would, in her case, prove unavailing. 
However, we administered remedies which tended to sooth 
her pathway to the tomb, attending her until she died, 
which event occurred some two weeks after. Before her 
decease, she expressed her gratitude to us in the warmest 
manner, and placed in our hands some recipes, as the best 
means of testifying it, and also the accompanying statement 
of her first knowledge of their efficacy, 

" Thirty years ago I was a theatrical ballet dancer in my 
native city of Paris. Of course I danced under an assumed 
name, which, as it is withdrawn from the catalogue of ar~ 
tistes, I need not now repeat. Suffice it to say, that I ac- 
quired a local reputation which for a while, gratified my 
ambition and afforded a sufficient vent for my enthusiasm. 
I had been upon the stage but five years, when I became 
the friend of the great Ellsler. This friendship soon ripen- 
ed into an intimacy which would never have been brought 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 153 



to a termina'ion excepting by a separation rendered neces- 
sary from the nature of our avocation. 

"I should tell you who are not theatrically instructed, 
that a dancer of Ellsler's rank seldom condescends to dress 
in the theatre, or ill a room used by any other person. When 
any infeiior figurante is admitted toth/s privilege, the hon- 
or is considered great, and almost overwhelming. From 
certain domestic relations that sprang up between the great 
Fanny and myself, it became necessary that we should 
occupy the same dressing-room while in practice of our 
professional calling. 

*' I had often wondered how she contrived to impart such 
miraculous improvements to her personal appearance each 
evening prior to her going upon the stage. I had seen her 
pale and juied, her countenance heavily lined, and (at par- 
ticular periods, about once a month) her eyes lustreless and 
sunken, with a ring, almost black, around them. An hour 
after going into the dressing-room and attiring herself after 
the ordinary fashion, and in my presence, she would look 
like a different being. The corrugated, thick, sallow skin, 
would be no longer visable, and the eyes would sp:irkle, 
emitting a luster like a first-class diamond. I knew it was 
not the excitement of the hour, for Fanny was too old a 
stager to be led away by the tinsel ' pomp and circum- 
stance' of the side-scenes and green-room. And yet, I 
marvelled what could it be? She drank nothing, she ate 
nothing singular. She used, so far as I could see, nothing 
that I did not use. 

" At length a misfortune unravelled this mystrv for me. 
One night we were dressing ourselves for • Les Willis, 1 
(known to the American play-goer as ' The Giselle. 1 ) I was 
the principal coryphee, and, in consequence of her not being 
any too well, was required to ' double ' for her : that is, 
when she was to be sent rapidly across the stage in a frail 
iron car suspended upon wires, as if she were floating 
through the air, I was to be dressed exactly like her, and 



154 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



take her place. This, in theatrical parlance, is termed 
* doubling.' Our dresses were of the thinnest gauze, and 
were very ample and voluminous. Just after the call-boy 
had warned us that the ballet was about to begin, my dra- 
pery was wafted, by a puff of wind that came in at the open 
window, to one of the gas-lights, and in an instant, I was 
enveloped in flames. I screamed and fainted, which was 
all that a woman could be expected to do under the cir- 
cumstances. 

" When I recovered my sensibility, I saw the doctor of 
the theatre and Fanny anxiously bending over me. I knew 
I was burned, but could not tell where, for I felt no pain 
whatever. The doctor, us^d to such accident.*, (for they 
are by no means rare in ballet theatres,) had applyt'd a lo- 
tion which immediately destroyed all suffering, and allayed 
all iiritation. As soon as I was sufficiently restored to 
stand he left us. 

" * Where, where am I injured ? 7 I inquired, with the 
deepest anxiety. Ellsler took me to the full length mirror 
in the appartment. I gave it one glance, and then stag- 
gered as if stiiclcen by a thunder-holt to the sofa. One 
side of my face and neck, and the upper part of one of 
my arms, were crimsoned and blistering. I need not tell 
you, perhaps, that the beauty of the dansuese is her main 
stock in tade. Indeed, a professor of theatrical saltatorials 
would rather <iie than live disfigured. At that moment, 
thoughts of living to be abhorred by those who had flatter- 
ed, caressed, and loved me, inflicted such exquisite pain, 
that. I instantaneously thought upon committing suicide. I 
w s taken to my lodgings in an exhausted and despairing 
state, and another coryphee went upon the stage in my stead. 

" At midnight Fanny was at my bedside. I declared to 
her that I would put an end to my existance, rather than 
wander about the world scarred and loathsome. She me- 
rely laughed, bade me keep quiet, and bathed the wounds 
with an aromatic liquid, such as I had often see;) her use 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 155 



to her own fine, bosom and limbs, and hnd considered to 
be a common cosmetic. Her manner affected me most 
powerfully, that I became like a child in her hands, and 
soon relinquished my mad idea of seeking solace for my 
misfortune in the grave. In two weeks my wounds had 
healed, and not only was my skin scar] ess, but as beautiful 
as it had heen when I was a petted child. My dear friend's 
cosmetic had done thi-s. 

" Judge of my suprise, when I discovered that si o had 
purchased the secret of making this wonderful balm, ihi.s 
incomparable blessing, several years before, from an Italian 
perfumer and chemist, whom she had met at Genoa, and 
who had fallen in love with her, although he was seventy 
years of age. Even his silly passion would not tempt him 
to part with the recipe (which he averred was the result 
of thirty years' labour and experiment) without money! 
* Her wonderful transformation from the appearance of las- 
situde and sickness to that of bouyant, undefiled. and infan- 
tile health, was now accounted for. 

4< At this time, Fanny being about to depart for St Peters- 
burgh, whither she had been summoned by desire of the 
Czcir, imparted to me the secret of this marvelous Cosmetic 
Perfume, and Healing Balsam, which I have named 'The 
Oriental Cream of Roses.* It is not only a beautifier, 
but one of the most powerful curatives lor all dise ses of 
the skin ever discovered. My improved looks secured me 
a husband, who was a chemi-t by profession, and whose 
services were in constant requisition by a large perfumery 
and cosmetic house. To him I impaited the secret, and 
together we laid plans for the purpose of extensively man- 
ufacturing this cosmetic; but soon after making arraign- 
ments with a house in Calcutta for a yearly supply of the 
essentia] extract of oriental roses, wherewith to make the 
preparation or compound, my husband was taken ill of 
malignant fever, and died, leaving me penniless, without 
the necessary means to embark in the business which at 



156 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



first would require an outlay of capital. In your hands it 
may be the means of much good to humanity, and also be 
a remuneration for the kindness bestowed on myself. 

"And. now Jet me state what is more important than all. 
When I was burned, you will please remember that Fanny 
applied the preparation at once. I for a long time sup- 
posed that the timely application prevented scars, and I 
was right ; but it did not then strike me that after scars 
were made, the preparation would remove them. A dear 
friend of mine had a little daughter who was exceedingly 
beautiful in form, and with remarkable expressive and 
handsome countenance, but for a birth-mark that covered 
one-half her forehead. The mark seemed to rise above 
the level of the ordinary skin, and was of a deep blood-red 
color. W en she was excited, this mark would turn al- 
most black. One day it occured to me to try what the 
1 Oriental Cream of Ross,' would do if steadily and per- 
severingly applied to this disfiguring evidence of nature's 
strange freaks. No sooner was the resolve formed than I 
put it in practice. I bathed the mark regularly every mor- 
ning, noon, and night, with the ' Oriental Cream of Roses,* 
rubbing it in with my hand for some fifteen minutes to 
half-an-hour, with perseverance and diligence. Under this 
treatment the birth mark, after a very brief period, had en- 
tirely disappeared ! Scores of similar cases have since come 
under my personal observation. 

" In the preparation of this cosmetic grent care mu*t be 
exercised in procuring the genuine extract of oriental roses, 
as it can be rightly made with none other, the roses of our 
own and the English soil not possessing the chemical agen- 
cies necessary to produce the wonderful effects required. 
The arrangement with the Calcutta house still remains in 
force, and you have oniy to give your order, at will, to 
have it promptly and speedily filled. And now, doctor, I 
will clo-^e by hoping that in your hands it may be the means 
of much benefit to my sex- Felicia Dupree." 

From a perusal of the foregoing may be seen how valu- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 157 

able this cosmetic is when rightly prepared. A few words 
as to what the " Oriental Cream of Roses" will do, and I 
have finished. It will, in four hours, so improve, rejuve- 
nate, and beautify the skin, that you would hardly recognize 
the person wbo used it as the one you knew before the ap- 
plication was made. The change it will work in your own 
countenance will cause you, at first, to doubt your own iden- 
tity. Those who use it regularly will possess a skin as 
sound, unblemished, soft, and beautiful as that of a healthy 
infant. It not only obliterates tan, freckles, pimples, mor- 
phew, redness, humors, eruptions, and all similar foes to 
beauty and comfort, but it renders the complexion perfectly 
clear and br.lliant, giving it a bloom, as web as a magnifi- 
cent lily shade ; softening it. making it pliable, free from 
dryness, scurf, etc. ; annihilating roughness, lines formed 
by care or sicklies*, and protecting it from the effect of 
cold winds, a humid atmosphere, and other atmospherical 
effects detrimental to the complexion and cuticle. It also 
imparts brilliancy to the eyes, as you will soon perceive 
after applying it. The instant it touches the skin it finds a 
passage through the pores, penetrating through the outer 
skin, the epidermis or second skin, and the lower or scarf 
skin, to the very flesh or fibre. It is this attribute, this 
penetrating power, that makes it potent, not only as a 
beautifier, but as a healer and annihilator of sores, ulcers, 
scrofulous affections of every character (if outwardly man- 
ifested), ringworm, and all Cutaneous Diseases that can 
be mentioned. 

The deepest marks made by small-pox — marks of tho 
oldest kind and most indelible character, as one would 
reasonably suppose — may be painlessly, pleasantly, and en- 
tirely removed by the "Oriental Cream of Roses." Rub 
it patiently into each mark or " pit, " with the finger, and 
the skin will gradually assume its natural condition and 
appearance, and after a comparatively short interval, every 
mark will disappear. 



158 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



In short, scars of every nature — no mattei how produced, 
!ttor how long they may have existed, or how deep and 
monstrous they may Le — will as surely y eld to this prepa- 
ration (applied as we have directed) as the snow will melt 
before the summer's sun. For chapped hands and arms 
nothing can be better than the ''Oriental Cream of Roses. " 
Indeed those who us it regularly, as they do soap and wa- 
ter, will never have a blemish or disease upon any surface 
where it is customarily placed. This preparation will be 
sent to all parts of the United States, by express, at two 
dollars per bottle. 

We would also state that the gratitude of our patient 
did not end here. The connexion of her husband with the 
large cosmetic and perfumeiy establishment before alluded 
to, caused him to be the possessor of many famous recipes 
for the preparation of toilet articles in use by the most 
noted beauties of the French court. These she also gav \ 
into our hands, and as the ingredients of the various arti- 
cles, could be procured only in Paris, we found it for our 
advantage to effect permanent arrangements for their prepa- 
ration in Paris for our use in this country, of which we 
have the exclusive right of sale, and we accordingly receive 
per steamer from Havre, the following French preparations, 
the authenticity of which cannot be doubted and the blessed 
uti ity of which is so speedily manifest that it is useless to 
extol them. Among these are the following : — 



Magic AimiMlator. 

For Removing Superfluous Hair* 

This is a powder invented by Laure, of Paris, and en- 
dorsed by the cele!>rated perfumer, Lubin. J* 11 the beau- 
ties o' France make free use of it. It removes superfluous 
hair with the utmost speed, without any approach to pni.i, 
and in such a manner that no one would dream the hair 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 159 



had ever grown where it has been applied. It leaves the 
skin as white as alabaster, and as soft as velvet. By trying 
it upon the aim, you will readily ascertain that it is a beau- 
tiful, a harmless, and yet a most powerful an I useful com- 
pi.ution. Sent anywhere, postage paid, at'$l a package* 

Arabian Breath Purifier, 

For the Teeth. 

This grand article has been used in France for a quarter 
of a cenlury. It is in the form of a tooth powder. The 
ingredients, we believe, are fifteen in number. This pow- 
der not only cleanses the teeth, making them glisten like 
pearls, obliterating every atom of tartar, killing the para- 
sites, and preventing them from rotting, but it sweetens 
the breath. The foulest breath will become as an infant's 
after this powder has been used a week. This comes di- 
rect from Paris — it is packed there to oua order, and un- 
packed for the first time afterwards in our own house, and 
by our own hands. Its cost, after going through the cus- 
tom house, is eighty-seven cents per box. We will send it, 
free of postage, to any address, upon the receipt of $1. 

Nature's Poetry, for the Hair. 

Nature's Poetry is the English name of a famous French 
preparation for restoring hair to its natural color, and 
making it grow upon the bald places. It is called u Na- 
ture's Poetry," because it is exclusively made of extracts 
fiom flowers — flowers which are exclusively grown in Tur- 
key. Its chemical properties are magical and wonderful. 
It will restore the grayest hair to the color it bore before 
age or sickness destroyed its beauty and its vigor. The 
French preparations for the hair are vilely imitated in this 
country, and the imitations are most destructive, not only 



160 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



to tlie hair, but to the skin, and (if much used) to the gen- 
eral health. Nature's Poetry acts as a dye, an invigorater, 
a restorative, and a beautifier generally. It also curls the 
hair beautifully, and supplies the place of the best pom- 
ade. Although it acts as a dye, it must not be classed as 
one. It is made with great care by the well-known Du- 
chesne, of Paris, and has been highly recommended by 
Alexander Dumas, Balzac, Eugene Sue, Paul de Knock, 
and other n (abilities of France. We warrant it to be the 
only good and innocent preparation for the hair toibe ob- 
tained on this side of the Atlantic ocean. Sent anywhere 
upon the receipt of two dollars. 

Olympian Aroma, 

An Unequalecl Perfume. 

This is one of the most wonderful perfumes ever invent- 
ed. It is used in all parts of continental Europe as a 
substitute for Cologne, and many people prefer it to the 
genuine eau, not a drop of which can be obtained, at any 
price, in America. We have only to say that the Olympian 
Aroma is quite unique as a perfume — that it is far more 
delightful than any that can be purchased here, and that 
we get it without adulteration. It reaches us through the 
customs, in good condition. No lady's boudoir should be 
without it. Price $1 per bottle. A bottle will last for 
years, for it is too potent to be used lavishly. 

Either of these beautifying articles will be sent to any 
address upon receipt of the annexed price. We will send 
the five preparations in one package for $5. to any part of 
ibis country. We have received letters from all parts of 
the United States in which the wrirers complain of hav- 
ing been swindled by preparations advertised as French 
cosmetics, and which w re not genuine. Beware of them. 
See that you get the right address, and send only for ours. 
Address, Dr. R. F. YOUNG & CO., No. 599 Broadway, 
New-York. 






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MEDICAL GUIDE. 1<31 

PILES. 



The disease called piles 1 as its seat at or near the lower 
extremity of the back passage. Rarely does it extend up 
the passage more than one or two inches. I am disposed 
to think that piles, in nearly all cases, arise from falling 
of the bowels. The large bowel, just as it enters the bas- 
ket of the hips, is tied to the back bone, and all its course 
through the basket of the hips is straight and smooth, and 
tied nearly its whole length to the solid bone : it is called 
the straight bowel, and forms the back passage through the 
basket of the hips. The bowels, when they fall down, in a 
great many cases, fall directly upon the large bowel, where 
it is tied to the backbone, and by pressing upon it prevent 
the blood from returning up the large bowel. You will un- 
derstand in a moment how this can, and does take place, 
by tying a piece of thread tightly around the finger; in a 
short time you will notice that the end of the finger swells, 
and is soon almost ready to burst. Should you allow the 
string to remuin long on the finger, blood would be seen 
oozing out from under the nail, and inflammation and a 
dreadful sore would be the consequence. Exactly in this 
way piles are produced. Should a person have any humor 
in the blood, such as scrofula or salt rheum, it might settle 
on the part affected by the piles, and in such a case would 
greatly aggravate the piles, and make them vastly worse 
t an they otherwise would have been. Ladies in the 
family-way are often cruelly afflicted with piles, because 
t the womb falls on the upper part of the back passage, and 
■ prevents the return of the blood, as we have before explain- 
ed. Piles are a very disagreeable disease, and often are 
so bad as to greatly injure health, and in this way predis- 
pose to consumption. At times, great quantir.es of blood 
will be poured out, so that the sufferer is threatened with 
death from this cause. Piles should always be cured, and 
not allowed to break down the general health, and thus- 



162 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



lead to other diseases, we send a remedy, a sure cure for two 
dollars. 



BEDS, AND LYING IN BEDS. 

Luxurious feather or down beds should be avoided, as 
they greatly tend to effeminate the system, and reduce the 
strength. For this reason beds should be elastic, but rath- 
er firm' and hard ; straw beds, hair mattrasses, these on a 
feather bed are well ; a most excellent mattress is made by 
combing out the husks or shuck that cover the ears of In- 
dian corn. We first met these beds in Italy, they are de- 
lightful. Cold sleeping rooms are in general best, especi- 
ally for persons in health; they should never be much 
heated for any person, but all should be comfortably warm 
in bed. 



COSTIVENESS. 

When this bowel is sluggish in its functions, the fluids 
that should pass by the bowels are thrown upon the skin, 
the kidneys, and the lungs, loading each of these organs, 
and deranging their offices. ie of the 4 very earliest 
effects is to render the skin of the face gross, thick, sallow, 
and unhealthy. lis brilliancy is lost. The blood rushes 
more or less to the head, the eye becomes dim, and soon 
loses its clearness and brilliancy. The skin everywhere 
ceases to be transparent ; an unpleasant odor is exhaled 
from the body; the breath becomes offensive ; the liver enlar- 
ges, and is loaded with blood and bile ; the right side of the 
heart is often enlarged by it ; dyspepsia results, and bleeding 
the lungs. We rarely ever knew a case of bleeding at the 
lungs that was not accompanied by costiveness. Piles, 
bearing down^ pains, monthly irregularities, disease of the 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 163 



womb, enlargement of the ovaries, falling- of the womb, 
drops., apoplexy, palsy, spine diseases, gravel, and disease 
of the kidneys, head-ache, and sick head-ache, flatulence, 
and colic, are often produced by costiveness, and always 
aggravated by it. 

Never allow a day to pass without a free evacuation. 
Observe one particular exact time for it, and at that exact 
period solicit the evacuation. A few days or weeks pa- 
tient solicitation will usually restore nature to its full health 
in this respect. Should this not fully answer, eating soft 
food or coarse bread, such as bread made of corn meal, 
or of wheat meal unbolted. These are excellent to remove 
costiveness. Chewing a little good Tin key rhubarb daily, 
will entirely cure costivenes--. Rhubarb has the rare pro- 
perty of a tonic to the bowels, and will not lose its effects 
upon the bowels, or do them any injury. We have known 
a lady, who had taken rhubarb, more or less, for forty 
years. It is a safe and most valuable remedy for costive- 
ness, and assisted by habit. Neither health, beauty, or 
purity of sysiem, can be long preserved, if costiveness 
exists. It should be relieved at all hazards. 

In stubborn cases where the above treatment floes not 
effect a cure, you had better write to us, enclosing two dollars, 
and we will forward a remedy. Address, Dr. R. F. 
YOUNG & Co., No. 599 Broadway, New-York. 

SHOULDER-BRACES* 

Shoulder-braces are instruments of very old date, having 
been used in England and France for hundreds of years. 
In all parts of Europe, with the noble and educated classes, 
the remarks we have made on the carriage of the head and 
neck are fully appreciated, and have been understood for 
ages. Indeed, from observing these classes, all our ideas 
on these ribjects have been fully confirmed. In many 
boarding-schools of England, it is a part of the education 



164 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



of j'oung persons, to provide that the shoulders, and car- 
riage of the head and neck. &c, shall be perfectly erect 
and elegant. They know that stooping or rounded shoul- 
ders are alike destructive of elegance and health. Round 
and stooping shoulders are set down in England as deci- 
dedly vulgar, marking- ignoble descent, and deno ing weak- 
ness and age. The tickets for admission to the ball-room at 
Almackj, 1 in London, cost $1 25 each, or five English 
shillings, yet at any time five hundred dollars would be paid 
for one. But money cannot buy a ticket at this aristocratic 
place of meeting. Admission for a lady is obtained through 
a committee of ladies of the highest rank, the object being 
to introduce the aristocratic youth and beauty of the em- 
pire to each other — to show off the finest blood in the 
world, and the highest breeding and physical cultivation. 
The Ipast approach to deformity would be an insurmount- 
able barrier to the admission of any one person, however 
exalted in rank. The Queen herself would hardly be ad- 
mitted if she had deformed shoulders. At some boarding 
schools, if young ladies have high or stooping shoulders, 
strong shoulder-braces are put on them, and pass down the 
back behind, outside the d«ess, with a heavy weight attach- 
ed thereto, and the child is placed on a stool for some 
hours daily, until the shoulders are brought into the re- 
quired symmetry. They are worn until the disposition to 
stoop is entirely overcome, and a perfect figure and carriage 
are fully established. Shoulder-braces are universally worn 
by all classes that desire fine figures, or the rewards of 
them. The officers of the army cultivate in themselves, 
and in their men, the finest figures, and perfect position of, 
the shoulders. They all wear shoulder-braces, more or less. 
The soldiers also wear them until the form is perfect. 
From the nobility and higher classes, and from the army, 
a taste for a fine figure and perfect position of the shoul- 
ders is diffused throughout all classes, both as a matter of 
taste and as the very key to health and beauty. Tha 



MEDICAL GUIDE, 165 



effect of manual labor, is, to a greater or less degree, tc 
throw the shoulders and arms upon the chest ; and from 
this results one-half the fatigue of manual labor. With a 
vast many the habit of stooping- at labour is extended to 
periods of walking and sitting ; and, finally, at all times, save 
in bed, the weight of the shoulders and arm* is forced upon 
the chest ; and thus the individual always carries a pack 
upon his back, and exactly the same effects are produced 
as if a person were always always to carry a burden equal 
in weight to the hands, arms, and shoulders, Upon the back. 
Back-ache, pains between the shoulders, pains in the neck 
ni d spine, heat between the shoulders, are the frequent 
effects of bringing the shoulders forward. The occupation 
of many persons requires them to use one arm more than 
the other. This, long continued, is apt to make the shoul- 
der of that arm weak, and to displace the shoulder-blade, 
causing it to grow out, and its inner edge to lift up like a 
wing, and in a vast many cases to change the spine to one 
6i'de, and bulging out the chest, and shiinking it in, in 
some places, thus producing great deformity and disease. 
Nearly every case of crooked spine between the shoulders 
arises from this cause; that is, the weight of the shouldei 
most used drags the spine out of the straight line, or on one 
side. Now, to prevent all this, wear our shoulder-braces. 

These brares are exceedingly efficient, while, at the same 
time, they are worn without annoyance. Being furnished 
witu flexible elasic metal spring in the back; to which the 
straps are attached, they do not lose their elasticity as do 
those which are made of India rubber, and are therefore 
much more durable ; and, while they yield to pressure 
sufficiently to permit the shoulders, arms and chest to be 
moved at pleasure and ease, they, at the same time, act 
continually to keep the chest erect, to hold the shoulders 
back, and effectually prevent stooping. They are made to 
perform the office of both shoulder-braces and suspenders. 

All persons who are inclined to stoop, or have weak 



166 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



lungs, should wear these braces, particularly those who be- 
long to the consumptive families. They should be worn by 
all sedentary persons, students, children at school, clergy- 
men, lawyers, literary men and others, whose occupations 
oblige them to sit or stoop. 

Price $4.00. Apply, giving height, and size around the 
chest, to Dr. R. F. YOUNG, & Co., No. 599 Broadway, 
New-York. 

Effects produced by wearing a suitable 
and perfect Abdominal Supporter. 



The effect produced by wearing a suitable and perfectly 
adjustable abdominal supporter is often nearly miraculous. 
The weak voice is strengthened ; the weak lungs support- 
ed ; the heart ceases its palpitations; the food sets better 
on the stomach ; costiveness is relieved ; chronic diarrhoea 
is stopped ; piles are cured ; sinking, all-gone feeling at 
the lungs, stomach, or sides, is relieved ; bearing down 
stopped; miscarriages prevented ; floodings stopped; leu- 
corrhcea cured ; spine gets stronger. The lady who could 
not walk can walk well. She who could not even sit up, 
gave for a few minutes, can now sit up all day, or as long 
as any one. Falling of the womb is cured ; and, in longer 
or shorter periods, loses all its tenderness and weakness, 
and goes permanently back to its place. Barrenness, in 
some cases, gives place to fruitfulness. The female con- 
stitution is renovated, and a way is prepared for years of 
good health. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 167 

ABDOMINAL. SUPPORTER 

FOR THE SPEEDY RELIEF AND CURE OF 

Falling of the Bowels, 

Prolapsus Uteri, or Falling of the Womb. 

This instrument has been frequently referred to in the 
foregoing- Lectures. It is light, elastic, fits like a glove, 
gives support in the right place and in the right direction, 
and may be worn while sitting, standing, walking, running, 
dancing, riding on horseback, or exercising in any other 
way, without any annoyance, and with only a delightful 
feeling of support. Many people have the impression that 
the Abdominal Supporter is designed to be worn only by 
females, and by them only for derangements and weak- 
nesses peculiar to the female organization. This is a great 
mistake. It does, indeed, afford in most cases immediate 
relief in female complaints, and is well-nigh essential to 
their cure. But its benefits are by no means confined to 
this class of complaints. In almost all diseases where there 
is a relaxing or weakening of the strength, it is of service. 
Wherever the muscular force of the general system is im- 
paired, the abdominal muscles being weakened with the 
rest, there is apt to be more or less falling of the bowels, 
with its train of ills, greatly agravating whatever disease 
the patient may be laboring under. There are thousands, 
both males and females, who need to wear the Supporter, 
but who do not know it. 

All who have Weak Lungs, a tendency to Sore Throat, 
a sinking, all-gone feeling at the pit of the Stomach, a 
dragging, heavy sensation about the front of the Chest and 
Shoulders, inability to stand or walk without fatigup, a 
dragging-down feeling about the Abdomen, &c, and all 
Females with any kind of Uterine trouble will find imme- 
diate relief in the use of this Supporter. 



168 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



Persons desiring the Supporter can be fitted either by 
calling at our office in New- York, or by sending their size 
around the waist just above the hips ; and it may be sent, 
by express or otherwise, to any part of the country. The 
price is $5 and $8. Apply to Dr. R. F. YOUNG & Co., 
No. 599 Broadway, New-York. 

Impurity Of tlie BlOOd causes cutaneous dis- 
eases, Blotches, Itches, Eruptions, Small-pox, and various 
other diseases, the enumeration of which would require 
considerable space; we will therefore merely take the op- 
portunity here to state that we cure any one of them for $2. 

Heart Diseases, — Such as palpitation, enlarge- 
ment, thickening of its walls, inflammation etc., may some 
times be relieved by taking a tea-spoonful of the juice of 
Asparagus, mixed with sugar, or a. few drops of tincture of 
Fox-glove, three times a day. The surest plan would be 
to write us, enclosing $2, and stating all symptoms, and we 
will send a cure. 

Retention Of Water. — This will sometimes 
happen, and will be relieved by hot mucilagineous teas 
drank freely, while a hot pouitice is applied to the lower 
part of th'e bowels. Should this not succeed, the water 
must be drawn with the catheter. 

KllFSing. — A pregnant woman should not suckle her 
child, as it not only robs the foetus, but injures the mother 
and child. The foetus absorbs a portion of all the aliments 
the mother partakes of, therefore the necessity of pregnant 
women being careful of what they eat and drink. The milk 
taken by a healthy infant equals in weight about a third of 
the food taken by the mother. 

Inflammation, of Kidneys. — Cause pain in 

small of back, testicles are sometimes drawn up, urine high 
colored, and sometimes vomiting. Take occasionally a 
tea-spoonful of a mixture of laudanum, 60 drops, Copavia, 
2 drachms, Carbonate of Soda 1 drachm, Almond mixture, 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 1C9 



4 ounces, or send $1 and get our never failing Herbal 
Pills. 

Coition. — Young persons often irretrievably injure 
themselves, by forcing the desire .'or coition. Nature must 
be your guide. Sexual commerce must not be prolonged 
or a fatal weakness may be the result. The virility of an old 
man will ofien be greatly increased and exl ended by mar- 
rying a young robust female. Young children should not 
be allowed to sleep with sickly or aged persons; this ad- 
vice should be strictly followed ; for we have too many 
diseased nurses in charge of our children imparting disease 
by the breath, or teaching them pernicious habits which 
irriy ruin them bef re they are dsscovered. Any exce-s in 
youth detracts ten-fold from future abilites in old age. 

Don't fail to read this Advice to tlie Afflicted. 

The moment you discover that you have contracted a 
private disease, or if you have had any affection of the kind, 
at any time previous — even years before — and which you 
have supposed you were cured of, by your country or other 
physicians, apply to us for this reason. Few physicians 
have ever been taught anything about the treatment of ven- 
ereal diseases. Even if they had, it was that of the old 
mercurial or copavia remedies, and which often causes 
more injury and suffering than the original disease. Fur- 
ther — this, as well as more enlarged works, too plainly 
show, that many are pronounced cured — by inexperienced 
physicians — who get married, the disease is reproduced 
by the time which may have elapsed, and the extra excite- 
ment such an event generally produces, and the unsus- 
pecting victim finds that he is yet affected, also the child, 
if the vvife happens to be pregnant. In some cases, the 
child may not show any signs of being affected for some 
years after it has been born. Sooner or later, however, it 
will show itself in the whole circle, if the original com- 
plaint was not entirely eradicated. Or if you have had an 



170 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



emission involuntarily. Sit down and write us a full state- 
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Anatomy of tlie Organs of Generation. 

The great importance of the organs of generation and their 
preservation in a state of health and vigor, have been admitted by 
the concurrent testimony of ancient and modern writers ; in fact, 
the due and proper performance of the special funciions with which 
they are charged, has ever been considered essentially necessary to 
the health and well-being of the economy, both physical and men 
tal. They are parts of admirable construction, form and use; and 
constitute a striking evidence of the wonderful skill and contrivance 
in the adaptation of a special mechanism in the system for the per- 
formance of one of its most important and essential functions :— that 
of the propagation of the species. Unequalled in the delicacy of 
their texture, and the comparative minuteness of their structure, 
their peculiar fitness for the functions assigned them in the economy, 
when they are in a state of perfect integrity, excites the astonish- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 171 

ment and admiration, alike of the anatomist and the philosopher. 
Their very complexity, while it renders them liable to many disorders 
by any of which their utility may be impaire 1, is wisely rendered 
subservient to the important purpose of separating and purifying 
the vivifying fluid. 

Like that complex and delicate piece of machinery a watch, con- 
structed by human skill, th« organs of generation in man,— a still 
more complex and more delicate apparatus, created by the divine 
will,— are liable to derangement and impairment of function and 
structure from many causes, the nature and effects of which will 
be investigated in the following pages. In order however that these 
may be fully and clearly understood, it will, we think, be advisable 
to preface the observations we propose hereafter to offer respecting 
them by some notice of the anatomical arrangement and physical 
action of the organs which are immediately subservient to the func- 
tion of generation, and also of those which are only indirectly con- 
nected therewith. 

The parts in man which are immediately connected with the 
functions just alluded to, are, as has been already stated, of a com- 
plex nature and very delicate structure. They consist of the testi- 
cles, by which the semen or seed is secreted, and of their appendages, 
through which the seminal fluid is transmitted to the urethra at its 
origin near the neck of the bladder and of the penis or yard, by means 
of which the act of copulation takes place, and through a canal in 
the under part of which, called the urethra, the seed is conveyed 
from the receptacles in which it is retained, to those organs of tho 
female, which are engaged in the function of generation. 

The urinary organs, both in the male and female, may be regarded 
fts subsiduary to this function, and many of the diseases to which they 
are liable exert a maliflcent influence on its performance, and not 
nnfrequently produce impotence, either temporary or permanent, 
according to the nature and severity of the disease. 

Tike Kidneys, which are the organs sole'y engaged in the 
secretion of the urine, are glandular bodies of an oblong shape, 
seated on either side of the spine, upon and below the two last ribs, 
and behind the stomach and intestines ; the right kidney is also under 
the liver, when the man is in the erect position, and the left under 
the spleen ; the right kidney is generally the lower and the larger. 
It is said that these organs are more considerable in size in those 



172 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

persons, whose passions are very strong, and almost uncontrolable, 
than they are in those who are less addicted to women. 

In shape the kidneys resembles the kidnev-bean : its structure is 
almost wholly made up of arteries, veins, and with a few small 
branches of nerves, derived partly from those which are connected 
with the ribs, and thence called intercostal, and partly from a branch 
from the stomach, thus causing a great sympathy between those or- 
gans. The arteries by which the kidneys are supplied with blood, 
which is partly used for the support of the organ, and partly for the 
secretion of urine, is derived directly from the aorta, or great artery 
of the body. When it enters the kidney, which it does about its 
middle, it divides into branches which again are divided into smaller 
ones, and these into still smaller, until they terminate in vessels so 
exceedingly minute as to be invisible to the naked eye. From these 
the veins are formed, and by these the urine is secreted, and falls by 
drops into a pouch which is situated about the middle or lower part 
of the organ, aud which forms the commencement of the ureter. 
The veins joins the great cava vein, and discharges its blood into 
what is called by anatomists the great portal system by which it ia 
conveyed to the liver, after this has been freed in the kidney from a 
certain portion of its serum, and also from certain salts. The nerves 
Of the kidneys are few and small, so that the organ is not endowed 
with much sensation. 

The Ureters are long, hollow tubes, and constitute the continua- 
tion of the pelves of the kidneys. There is one on each side of the 
body, and they pass downwards, and slightly inwards to the back 
and lower parts of the bladder, which they pierce, running between 
its coats for about an inch, so that if the bladder should become ex- 
ceedingly distended, its contents would not be forced back into these 
tubes. They are well supplied with branches of arteries, veins and 
nerves, and their sensibility in a state of disease is considerable. 
Their use is to convey the urine from the kidney into the bladder. 

The Bladder is situated in that part of the body called the pelvis. 
It is of considerable size, and admits in some instances of distension 
to a degree that would hardly be credited, were it not a well-known 
fact. 

This power, however, is not acquired without considerable risk to 
health and life . This organ in man lies directly on his bowels, but 
in woman the womb intervenes between it and the rectum. It is of 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 173 



an oval shape, constitutes the great receptacle of the urine, which 
when it has collected to such an amount as to become a source of in- 
convenience, is by a voluntary effort got rid of through the urethra 
—a prolongation of the bladder commencing at its neck, and extend- 
ing along the un 'er surface of the penis, as has been already stated. 
The bladder is well supplied with arteries, veins and nerves, and is 
very sensitive when in a state of disease. It has three coats, one of 
them being composed of muscular fibres ; its constriction causes the 
expulsion of the urine ; it has on that account been called the detru- 
sor urinae. 

The neck of the bladder, which in man is longer and narrower, 
and in woman is shorter and wider, is surrounded by a sphincter 
muscle, by which the continued running away of the urine is pre- 
vented, unless from disease the muscle has become useless. 

The secretion or separation of the urine from the blood by vessels 
appropriated for that purpose, constitute the principal functions of 
the kidney. The fluid, when secreted is carried along the ureters in- 
to the bladder— the great receptacle in which it is retainnd until from 
its state of distention, its evacuation by the urethra is required. 

The process by which the secretion of the urine is effected is one 
of exceeding interest, and admirably adapted to display the wisdom 
of the Divine machinist. The blood from which it is to be separated 
is conveyed to the organ, ashas been already mentioned, by the renal 
artery, which divides into branches supplying different parts of the 
organ, and these again in their turn form arches of communication 
with each other, whence spring minute arteries or branchlets, these 
again constituting a complete network of vessels by a general inos- 
culation. They terminate in the commencement of veins, and also 
in uriniferous tubes by which latter the separation of the urine io 
effected. The crypts or cryptce, small round or oval bodies, which 
are found everywhere in the network of vessels just spoken of, and 
which consist almost solely of vessels, are by some supposed to be 
the origin of the uriniferous tubes. The tubes terminate in a mam- 
milliar process, which projects into a small membranous bag. called 
from its shape the infundibulus or funnel ; into this bag the urine 
passes from the urinifereus tubes, it is thence conveyed to the larger 
pouch called the pelvis, and afterwards through the ureter into the 
bla-Ider. Several of the tubes terminate in one mammilliar process, 
and so also several of the mammilliar processes open into one infuu- 



174 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



dibulum. The last named pouch, like the pelvis of the kidney, the 
ureters, bladder and urethra, is defended from the acrimony of the 
urine, by a secretion of mucus which lines and sheaths its inner coat. 

The quantity of urine, and the celerity with which it is passed af- 
ter certain fluids have been taken into the stomach, have induced in 
some persons a belief that vessels existed, but which have not yet 
been discovered, forming an immediate communication between the 
stomach and the bladder, unconnected with the kidneys. But the 
quickness with which fluids can be absorbe 1 and conveyed to the 
thoracic ducts, the velocity of the circulation, and the great quan- 
tity of blood carried by the renal arteries to the kidneys, will account 
for the celerity with which urine separated, without having recourse 
to the supposition of unknown channels. From the extensive com- 
munication which the nerves of the kidney's h:ive with those of the 
alimentary canal, it is not improbable that the secretion of urine 
from the blood may commence before the absorbents have time to 
carry any quantity of water, received into the stomach into th« 
blood vessels : nature being aware that these vessels would be 
overcharged, did not a separation of some of the watery fluid 
already in them immediately begin. 

That the secretion of the kidne} r s is much influenced by passions 
and ideas of the mind we need only instance in proof, the effects ot 
fear on quadrupeds, infants and even on adult men in suddenly in- 
creasing the quantity of urine, and producing an insurmountable de- 
sire to void it. In patients laboring under some difficulty from 
stricture in passing nrine, the mind referring to the complant will 
often greatly increase the secretion of that fluid, and multiply the 
calls to pass it from the body. This will be exemplified in a subse- 
quent chapter. 

The renal capsules are concavo-convex bodies, seated immedi- 
ately above the kidneys, imbedded in fat, and freely supplied with 
blood principally from the renal artery, arising directly from the 
great arterial trunk, and from other vessels. Its nerves are derived 
from the great sympathetic. In the interior there is found a cavity, 
containing a fluid of a dark saffron color, the use of which and of 
the renal capsule itself we are yet ignorant of. 

The prostate gland, of which we shall speak more fully, when 
treating of the anatomy of the organs specially concerned in gen- 
eration, is in immediate connection with the neck of the bladder; 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 175 



although not in fact directly engaged in the process of generation, it 
is more intimately connected therewith, than any of the -parts 
which hare hitherto been considered. Under the same head the 
urethra may be regarded ; it is indeed more closely connected with 
generation than the prostate, inasmuch as the seed-receptacles 
open into it, and the seed itself is ejected through it. Although then 
the prostate and urethra constitute a portion and a very importan* 
one of the urinary organs, a description of their anatomy will be 
better understood, after the organs specially engaged in the function 
of generation, to wit: the testicles, deferent vessels, seminal recep- 
tacles, etc., have been described. 

The scrotum or purse, is a bag of skin, divided about the middle by 
a septum so as to form two cavities in each of which a testicle i3 
contained. The situation of this septum is marked externally by an 
irregular line called the raphe. The contraction or corrugation i f 
the scrotum, which occurs at times, is said by some anatomists to 
depend on the action of a muscle which thej T call dartos. This how 
ever is denied by others who dc not admit the existence of this 
muscle. 

The testicles, or organs which secrete the semen, are nourished 
and supplied with blood by long and tenacious vessels which arise 
from the main arterial trunk, and are called the spermatic arteries ; 
the blood which they thus receive, serves for the elimination and 
secretion of the seed,— a process which is affected by the peculiar 
action of the testicles, and which secreting power affixes to these 
organs a value and importance in the human frame, not even second 
to that which attaches to those generally regarded by anatomists as 
the more noble, being those the destruction or serious impairment 
of the functions of which may involve loss of life. The value which 
men place on these organs (the testicles) is rendered evident by the 
fact that suicide is not unfrequently caused by their supposed or 
real imperfection, and that men on whom the operation of castra- 
tion has been performed, in consequence of cancerous or otli r 
serious diseases affecting the testicles, generally become moping an 1 
melancholy, and speedily perish. The same thing occurs when from 
a similar cause the penis has been amputated ; nor is the feeling of 
dejection and extreme wretchedness, consequent on these opera- 
tions confined to persons in the prime of life, and previously in the 
full enjoyment of the functions of reproduction. Old men, evei 



1 

176 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



by the name tunica vaginalis, is composed of the body oi the testi- 
cle, and the epidydimis, the latter being situated at the upper part. 
Its substance is of a white, soft, and apparently pulpy nature, but in 
reality it consists of an infinite number of small tubes, called the 
seminiferous tubes, which terminate in the epidydimis. These tubes 
are convoluted on each other, and closely connected together, but 
when unravelled, and injected with quicksilver, will extend to a 
considerable length. 

The spermatic veins arise in three sets from the testicles, two of which 
soon unite. They are exceedingly tortuous in their course, and 
freely anastomose with each other, while in the lower part of the 
cord, but these intercommunications cease after they have entered 
the abdominal canal, on leaving which while crossing the psoas 
muscle, they unite together, and form one vein, which on the right 
side terminates in the lower vena cava, and on the left in the vein 
which arises from the kidney on that side. Their use has been al- 
ready mentioned. The larger veins are provided with valves. The 
nerves of the testicles are principally derived from those which sup 
ply the kidneys. They take the same course as the spermatic ar- 
teries, and constitute with them and the veins the spermatic chord. 
Some branches of the hypogastric plexus join the spermatic nerves 
in the cord, and form with them a kind of network or interlacing 
with their branches, which mingle with and embrace the blood ves- 
sels supplying the testicles. The spermatic nerves are finally dis- 
tributed to the substance of the organ, to the due performance of 
the function of which they are subsidary. 

The testicles are generally two in number, one on each side of the 
scrotum or purse, but cases have been published in which there has 
been only one testicle, and in others again there have been found 
three, four, and even, although very rarely. live testicles. The older 
writers, by whom some ot these cases have been mentioned, con- 
sidered the possessors of so unusai a number ot testicles, to be more 
than ordinarily salacious. This latter statement is more than doubt- 
ful, and it has sometimes happened that a small tumor has assumed 
the character and appearance of an additional testicle. The occa- 
sional although rare occurrence of a tbiru testicle has however been 
placed beyond all doubt. Dr. Macanu a stah* surgeon in the Hritish 
army, published an instance of this. which came under his own ob- 
servation. The person in whom lids anomalous condition took place 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 177 

left. In this situation they are exposed to various causes of disease, 
and although not absolutely deprived of the power of secreting 
seed, yet their action is generally more or less imperfect, in all 
probability from the compression they undergo, and the narrowness 
of the canal by which they are in fact somewhat elongated, and 
flattened, and smaller than usual. 

An apprentice of the late Sir Astley Cooper, in whom the testicles 
had not descended, committed suicide, from the fear that he was 
impotent. His body was examined after death, and the seminal 
vesicles were found to be full of semen ; the testicles themselves, 
which were both within the abdomen and close to the internal ab- 
dominal ring, being nearly, if not quite of a natural size. In 
another case, that of a lad nineteen years of age, only one organ 
was retained in the cavity of the abdomen. It was smaller than its 
fellow, but the ducts, etc., were perfectly healthy. 

The non-descent of the testicles from the abdomen into the purse 
does not however necessarily involve the infliction of impotence— 
the greatest physical curse to which manhood can be subjected. 

The spermatic arter}*, as has been already remarked, is given off 
by the main arterial trunk; it is a long undulating, and tortuous 
vessel. The blood which is thus conveyed to the organs, after hav- 
ing been employed by the testicles for the separation and secretion 
of the seed, is re-conveyed in a refuse state by other vessels, called 
the spermatic veins, back to the general circulatory system In the 
body. The double set of vessels, the arteries and veins, were called 
bv the older anatomists the vasa preparantia, as being the parts 
principally concerned with the testicles in the preparation of the 
seed. 

The spermatic arteries are remarkable, besides their length and 
tortousity, for their smallness, which prevents their containing 
more than a small quantity of blood at a time. They pass obliquely 
downwards and outwards, behind the peritoneum, and are contained 
in a common protecting sheath with the veins, forming with the 
nerves of the testicle what is called the spermatic eord ; they then 
run over the psoas muscles and ureters, and pass out through the 
rings of the abdomen and abdominal canal, over the os pubis or 
share bone, and into the scrotum, which the supermatic artery en- 
ters, and as already remarked, supplies the vas deferens. 

The latter named organ, which is invested in its own sheath, called 



178 



THE MAGIC WAND AND 



those in whom, from effects of advanced age, all desire and capacity 
for sexual intercourse have entirely ceased, when deprived of thes« 
organs by a surgical proceeding, fall the victims of an insatiable 
melancholy. 

Eunuchs, who have been castrated prior to the possession of those 
feelings which nature causes to spring up in man after the period of 
puberty, are of course not subject to the same degree of depression 
and wretchedness of mind and body as are those who are rendered 
impotent, after having shared in the happiness and delights of mat- 
rimonial intercourse. Their disgust of life arises from witnessing 
the comforts which others enjoy, from which they are ever debarred, 
and which the}' have no means of fully appreciating. There is also 
a marked difference in the external characteristic of a man and of 
an eunuch. The latter are rendered, by the degrading operation to 
which they have been subjected, more effeminate in personal ap- 
pearance than are those who are in the full vigor and enjoyment of 
manhood. The voice resembles that of children, the hair bee m,a 
thin and delicate, the limbs are small, the beard and whiskers do 
not grow, or at best are thin and scattered, and the mental faculties 
are prevented attaining either vigor or penetration. Most of these 
changes and differences in the constitution not unfrequently attend 
the operation of castration, when performed during manhood, if it 
be complete,— that is if both testicles have been removed. They do 
not however occur at once, but take place gradually ; erection and 
even emission may be effected on more than one occasion, after both 
testicles have been removed. When emission occurs some months 
after castration has been performed, it is not seminal, but simply 
the secretion of the seminal vesicles and the prostate gland. 

The ancient Romans would not allow any one to bear witness 
against another in a court of justice, unless ha were perfect in the 
organs of generation,— unless the testicles were sound and entire. 
The papal clergy so far carry this rule into effect that no one can be 
admitted a member of their priesthood, against whom a similar de- 
fect can with truth be alleged. 

It occasionally happens that the testicles which before birth are 
lodged within The .-avity of the abdomen, immediately before the 
kidneys, do not lescend into the scrotum or purse, but remain in the 
belly, generally within what is called the abdominal canal. Some- 
times oue oniy is retained in the abdomen and that generally tlie 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 179 



was a recruit about twenty years of age, and the additional organ 
was on the rkht side, nearer the groin than tfee proper testicle. It 
had its own spermatic cord, which joined the cord of the other or- 
gan at the upper parts of the purse, and the vas deferens could be 
distinctly felt in each. 

Persons having three testicles are called triorchides ; those who 
possess only one are known in science by the name of monorchides. 
These latter cases are equally rare, and those which are detailed by 
the older writers equally doubtful, as the instances of triorchides, 
already alluded to. Some few instances however have been pub- 
lished by modern authors, and in some of these the facts having ex- 
amined after death, the non-existence of one of the testicles has 
been clearly ascertained. Instances also have been known in which 
the unhappy sufferers have been eunuchs from birth, having been 
born without either testicle. 

Where these important organs are natural in size, number, and 
general appearance, they are generally nearly two inches in length, 
one and a half in the transverse direction, and one in thickness. The 
tunica vaginalis or investing membrane of the testicles which has 
been already alluded to, eonsists of two layers, the inner one di- 
rectly enveloping the testicles. It secretes a kind of semen, which 
serves to lubricate it. Between the two layers of the vaginal tunic 
is contained the fluid hydrocele, or dropsy of the purse. In some 
.cases the cavity formed between the two layers of this membrane 
remains continuous with cavity of the abdomen. In such instances 
there is tlu double danger of the occurrence of what is called con 
genital rupture, and also of the extension of severe inflammation 
from the cavity of the vaginal tunic to tho abdomen. 

Between the testicles and the tunica vaginalis, there is another 
tunic or coat called the tunica albujrinea which is smooth, white, and 
inelastic, composed of fibres and structure. It completely covers 
the testicle, but not the epididymis. At the upper, back, and outer 
part of the organ, it forms a projecting body containing the blood 
vessel, and part of the glandular structure of the testicle, as well as 
the seminal canals of the rete. Astley Cooper called it mediastinum 
testis. The unyielding character of its tunics is the cause of the in- 
tense pain which is experienced when the organ is swelled and in- 
flamed The testicle is also invested and protected by a muscle 
called the cremaster, which is formed partly by some of the fibrei 



180 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



of the oblique muscles of the abdomen, and partly arises from the 
lower part of the spine of the ilium, and from the pubis. It acts as 
a third coat or tunic to the testicle. It expands all round the tunica 
vaginalis which it closely embraces, forming a hollow muscle, with- 
in which the testicle and its tunics are contained, and which, when 
it is in action, contracts and draws the organ it encloses upwards to 
the abdomen, sustaining and compressing it, and forcing out along 
the vas deferens the semen previously secreted by the organ. The 
action of this muscle is principally involuntary, but it has been 
found in some few instances to be under the control of the will. The 
Cremaster Muscle is small and indistinct prior to puberty ; after that 
period it is greatly developed in persons who are very muscular, 
and is exceedingly well marked in cases of old rupture or hydrocele. 

It has been already observed ihat the substance cf the testicle con. 
sists of an infinite number of small tubes, which are called the 
tubuli seminiferi, or seminiferous tubes. These aie very numerous . 
their number has been calculated by Lauth at 840, and their entire' 
mep.n length at 1750 feet, the mean length of each duct or tube being 
twenty five inches. They communicate readily with each other, 
and chus constitute one vast network of communication. Their 
calibre is of varying diameter in different individuals, and is also 
modified by the age of the partv, and the state of activity or of rest 
of the organ itself. They are much larger in an active adult in the 
prime of life, while the organs are in full vigor, than they are in the 
child or old man. They differ occasionally also in the testicles of 
the same individual, the calibre of the seminiferous lobes in the one 
testicles being greater than that of th other. In their course in the 
body of the organ, they converg towards the part described as the 
mediastinum ; then two or more tubes unite, and form a conicai 
lobe, the point of which opens into the mediastinum testis. Of these 
lobes there ari between four and five hundred in each testicle. 

The epididymis, which, it has been stated is seated at the upper 
and back part of the testicle, is the continuation of the numerous 
seed-bearing tubes ; it descends along the back part of the testicle 
gradually becomes larger in diameter, but less convoluted until i t 
begins to ascend, when it obtains the name of vasa deferens. It is 
no longer than the testicle, being about two inches in length, and 
four or five lines in width. It consists principally of seminal canals 
from which arise in the after part of the rete testis, the vasa ef 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 181 



ferentla, or different vessels, of which tubes they are generally 
twelve in number, although there be sometimes as many as thirty. 
And these ducts, after numerous and close eon volutions, unite Avith, 
or rather terminate in the canal of the epididymis. Their average 
united length has been estimated by Lauth at nearly eight feet, the 
separate length of each being rather more than seven inches. 

The parts of the epdidymis known as its bod} r and tail, are com- 
posed of the convolutions or twisiings of its canal. This latter is 
very irregular in size and length, averaging generally when unfolded 
and drawn out about twenty feet. It varies greatly both in length 
and calibre in different individuals. The walls of this canal, unlike 
those of the vasa efferentia, are very strong, and will bear consid- 
erable violence. It terminates in the canal called the vas deferens 
or deferent vessel, the excretory duct of the organ, and is generally 
narrower in calibre at the part where it unites with the vas deferens, 
than in any other part of its course. 

There is sometimes a blind canal found connected with the epidi- 
dymis or deferent vessel, which has been called by Haller the vas- 
culum aberrans. It is as large in diameter as the canal of the epidi- 
dymis, and is generally from eight to fourteen inches long, although 
it only passes along the cord for two or three inches, when it either 
terminates in a dilated extremity, or else gradually diminishes in 
size, and finally disappears. It is much convoluted in its course. It 
is not of unfrequent occurrence, although in perhaps the majority 
of instances it is not present. As many as there vascula aberrantia 
have been found. But little is known of the real use to which this 
blind canal is subservient in the economy. By some it has been sup - 
posed to be a supplementary vas deferens ; others again conceive 
that its office is merely the secretion of a fluid to assist in lubricating 
the part composing the epididymis,— while others again regard it as 
a mere diverticulum, accidental in its formation, such as is occa- 
sionally met with among the intestines. 

The vas deferens or deferent vessel, the excretory duct of the tes- 
ticle, forms a constituent part of the spermatic cord, and is readily 
distinguished from the arteries, veins, nerves, and absorbents, by its 
cartilaginous feel. It is firm and round in shape, and it has been sup- 
posed that its parietes or walls Were muscular. It is continuous 
with the under part of the epididymis, and ascends along its inner 
Bide, forming numerous convolutions until it passes beyond the tes- 



182 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

tide, when it joins the spermatic vessels and nerves to form th* 
cord. It then enters and passes through the abdominal canal; after 
which it leaves the cord and plunges into the pelvis, passing back- 
wards in the form of an arch on the outside of the peritoneum, to 
which it adheres; it passes first by the side of, and then behind and 
below the bladder, inclining gently inwards in its course, towards 
the cervix, cf that viscus, until at list, about the base of the pros- 
tate gland, it comes in contact, but does not communicate with the 
vas deferens of the opposite side. It terminates in the seminal tes- 
ticle, immediately above and behind the prostate, and with it forms 
the ejaculatory canal, which perforates the prostatic part of the 
uretha. As the vus deferens approaches its termination in the sem- 
inal vesicle, it increases in breadth and capacity, becoming again 
gradually smaller as it reaches the prostate. 

The testicles in the foetus are situated in the abdomen, posterior to 
its lining membrane the peritoneum, immediately below the kid- 
neys, and in front of the psoas muscles. The epididymis is about 
one-third larger relatively to the body of the testicle than it is in 
the adult Connected with each of these organs while in the foetal 
state, is a soft solid body of* a conical shape, which is called the 
gubernaculum. It is attached to the lower ends of the testicle and 
epididymis, and to the origin of the vas deferens. It passes out of 
the abdomen in the course taken by the testicle, through the ingui- 
nal canal and the abdominial rings, downwards into the scrotum, to 
which it is attached. It is surrounded with a layer of muscular fi- 
bres, and is supplied with blood by a branch from the artery of the 
vas deferens. The testicle between the fifth and sixth month of 
foetal life, is gradually drawn by the contraction of the muscular 
fibres enveloping the gubernaculum and by the action of the cre- 
master muscle from its situation near the kidney, upwards towards 
the internal abdominial ring. Towards the close of the seventh 
month it is generally found that the ring traverses the inguinal ca- 
nal during the next month, and Anally towards the close of the pe- 
riod of pregnancy, is generally to be discovered in the scrotum. As 
the organ progresses through the abdomen and the canal, it pushes 
before it a reflection of the peritoneum, whieh subsequently be- 
comes the tunica vaginalis, which has been already described. Tho 
gubernaculum, meanwhile, gradually becomes everted, and its 
muscular fibres constitute a kind of investing covering to the vagi* 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 183 



I nal tu-nlo, the remaining portion of its texture contributing tc form 
, the loose cellular tissue, which is found so abundantly in the scro- 
tum. Its attachments to the bottom o. the scrotum gradually dis- 
appear after the descent of the organ, which they were intended to 
facilitate, This, however, is not always the case. In same instances 
in which the testicle have not descended further than the abdo- 
minal ring or canal, some portion of the gubernaculum may still be 
in existence, and may even retain some of its enveloping muscular 
fibres. 

The non-descent of both testieles is of comparatively rare occur- 
rence. When one has descended, it is more frequently the right 
than the left. It sometimes remains permanently fixed in the situa- 
tion which it occupied when the child was born, but it occasionally 
descends prior to puberty, most generally between the second and 
the tenth year. The descent has been known to some after birth.— 
Wrisberg mentions several such instances. The cause of this non- 
descent are not at present well known ; they may, however, depend 
on the occurrences of abdominal inflammation prior to birth, or on 
some imperfection in the muscular apparatus by which the testicle 
6hould be drawn into the cavity of the scrotum. When the bodies 
of persons who have been the subject of this non-descent have been 
examined after death, filaments or bands of greater or less length 
have beeH discovered binding the organ to some of the parts in the 
abdomen, and it has even been found adhering to one. of the intes- 
tines. This singular cause of the non-descent of the testicle can 
only be attributed to previous inflammation. The small size of the 
abdominal rings may also operate as a cause preventive of the de- 
scent of testicles. An operation has been performed under such cir- 
cumstances to relieve the organ, and place it in the scrotum, and it 
was followed by succesg. It was, however, attended with great 
difficulty and inconvenience, and the cure was very tedious. 

The vas deferens in cases of undescended testicle is generally of 
exceeding length, so as to present a greater degree of tortousity than 
usual. 

It occasionally happens that, Independent of their non-descent 
the testicles do 'not attain their full size and powers of secreting 
semen. This state has been termed an arrest of developmont,— a 
phrase the meaning of which is simply that the organs at a certain 
period of life prior to puberty, have ceased to grow. A case has 



184 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

been described of a gentleman, who, when in his twenty-sixth year 
had a penis and testicles, which were not larger than those of a boy 
eight years old, and another of a man, thirty years old, in whom 
those organs presented a similar appearance. Such instancesare 
not beyond the influence of medicine, unless perhaps when they oc- 
cur in the persons of idiots. 

Wasting or diminution in the size and powers of the organs may 
occur at any age. The testicle is generally of the proper shape, al- 
though diminished in size, but feels soft, having lost its elasticity and* 
firmness. It is pale in texture, and its blood vessels appear to be 
less in number, than in the healthy state. The secretion contained 
in the seminiferous tubes is entirely devoid of spermatic granules 
and spermatozoa, the nature and use of which will be mentioned in 
a short time. In some instances the organ undergoes what is called 
the fatty degeneration, The spermatic cord is also generally affect- 
ed by the extension of the disease ; the nerves shrink, the blood ves- 
sels are reduced in size and number it is said, and the cremaster 
muscle disappears. 

When disease of the organ is the cause of its atrophied condition, 
it becomes altered in shape, being uneven and irregular, and some- 
times elongated, as well as diminished in size and weight The pro- 
per glandular structure also seems to have nearly if not altogether 
disappeared. 

Among the causes of this atrophy of the testicle may be enumer- 
ated impeded circulation, pressure, wanting exercise, and* loss of 
nervous influence, as well as certain causes which specially affect 
the organs. Atrophy or an occasional result of local inflammation 
co the testicle in cases of mumps. Excess in sexual intercourse and 
onanism are also efficient causes of an atrophied condition of these 
mportant organs. They will be alluded to more in detail hereafter. 
Et is generally preceded by a low kind of local inflammation. 

Injuries of the head, especially of the back part, have not unfre- 
qucntly been the cause of atrophy of these organs, and it has been 
known to occur without any apparant cause. 

The fact that injuries of a severe nature affecting the back part of 
the head are followed by such a result would tend to support the 
views of the phrenologists that the seat of sexual desire is in the 
cerebellum, which is there located, and between which and the or- 
gans of generation they say there is a great sympathy. The brain 
either in its entire, or in its particular part of it, undoubtedly ex- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 185 



erefses great ii.fluence of the mind on the organs of generation, and 
of the latter on the mind is completely reciprocal. 

So much similitude is there in the structure of the brain and of the 
testicle, as well as a most extraordinary sympathy between them 
that experience in the course of a practice extending through a se- 
ries of years, has demonstrated that there are many cases where 
the human mind suffers under a species of derangement, in conse- 
quence of diseases of the organ of generation, especially a tubes 
dorsalis, and for this, solid reason mayvand will hereafter be given. 

The vas deferens, a duct as important as the testicle is itself, inas- 
much as it is the canal through which the semen is conveyed to the 
seminal vesicles, is occasionally, but rarely, imperfect, or greatly 
deficient in some part of its course. It sometimes terminates it a 
cul-decsac, more or less near the organ from which it arises. In some 
instances when this occurs, the testicle itself is imperfect, in others,in 
appearance at least it seems to be healthy,and the seminiferous tubes 
contain semen abounding in spermatozoa. Sometimes the epididy- 
mis is altogether absent, or partially imperfect. Occasionally the 
vas deferens is of unnatural shortness, and terminates in a seminal 
vesicle, not situated in its ordinary place, and totally unconnected 
with the urethra. All these constitute serious and important im- 
pairments of the generative functions, because although the testicle 
itself may be perfect in its structure, and fully capable of perform- 
ing its duties, stil is it rendered useless if its deferent duct be im- 
perfect. Fortunately however such deficiencies are of rare occur- 
rence, and when they are met with, are generally found to affect 
one organ only, leaving the other fit and capable for efficient 
action. 

The semen, or fluid secreted by the testicles, is always when eva- 
cuated, mixed with the secretions of other structures, such as those 
of the seminal vesicles, the prostate gland, and the mucus glands of 
the urethra. To examine semen in its pure state, it should be obtain- 
ed from the deferent vessels of an animal recently dead, in whom 
death has ensued from accident or intention, and not from disease. 

On examination, the seminal fluid is found to possess many of the 
properties of other animal mucilages. It is of a blueish-white color, 
and nearly of the consistence of cream, but more unequal. That 
which is first discharged by living animals has nearly the properties 
of what is found in the vasa deferentia and other vessels of the testX 



186 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



cles ; it is whiter and more opaque, while that which follows more 
resembles the common mucus of the nose, but is less viscid. It has, 
when first voided, a peculiar heavy smell, which has beeni compared 
to that of the farina of the Spanish chestnut. This odor appears to 
be derived from the secretions of the seminal vesicles, prostate and 
mucus glands of the urethra, as pure semen obtained from the epidi- 
dymis or deferent vessels has not any such smell. Its taste is said by 
one of our most eminent physiologists to be at first insipid, with how- 
ever a certain degree of pungency ; after a little time it stimulates 
and excites a degree of warmth in the mouth. Yanquehne describes 
it as having a sharp and slightly astringent taste. Its specific gravity _ 
is greater than that of any other fluid in the body ; it sinks into wa- 
ter, is coagulable by alcohol, is soluble in nitric and sulphuric acids, 
is softened by vegetable acids, evaporates by heat, loses its viscidity 
on the addition of lime-water, which however is increased by potash 
and soda, and it is thickened by ammonia. When exposed to air, it 
soon liquifies, and then becomes specificallj- lighter than before, but 
it always remains heavier than water. When it does liquify, it will 
combine with water at any temperature, but it will not do so at the 
time of ejection, nor will water dissolve it at any temperature, from 
zero to the boiling point, if it have not been previously liquified. 

According to the detailed experiments of Vanqueline, which were 
published in the Annales de Chemie for 1791, and which have been 
quoted by Fourcroy, Richerand, and others, nun. an semen appears 
to be composed of ninety parts of water, six of common animal mu- 
cilage, three of phosphate of lime, and one of soda. It exhibits a 
very marked alcaline character, changing the syrup of violets green, 
owing to the soda which it contains. The animal mucilage is not pure 
albumen ; but Richerand observes it should rather be considered as 
a gelatanous mucus, on which its indissolubility in water, its odor 
and spontaneous liquifaction seems to depend. 

The application ot the powers of the microscope to semen has 
shown that very minute bodies swim in it ; these move with rapidity, 
and from their various motions, from their avoiding obstacles, their 
retrogression, and change of velocity, they have been regarded as 
animalcule. They are formed like a tadpole, with a round head or 
body and a narrow tail. They are found in very great numbers in 
healthy seminal fluid, and closely crowded together. Ludovic Haume 
is §aid to have been tho discoverer of these animalcule, and to have 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 187 



shewn them to Lewenhoeck in 1677. Lewenhoeck has claimed the 
discovery as his w* n. 

Theso anamalcuiae are not found, it is said, in the fluid contained 
in the seminal organs before puberty ; but are always present after 
wards, and do not disappear while man retains the power of procre- 
ation, having been met with in persons of a very advanced age! 
they are stated to be either imperfect or altogether wanting in tbat 
of mules. The more general character with respect to these tadpoles 
in the semen of the mules is that they are greatly deficient in num- 
ber, and very imperfect in their formation. Some physiologists 
have asserted that they are also absent from the semen of persons 
who are suffering from or have been much debiliated by continual 
disease. The theories which have been formed respecting their na- 
ture and uses have been very various. 

These animalculae or tadpoles are now called spermatozoa, as it is 
yet a question among physiologists whether they are independent 
parasitic animals, or merely animated particles, of the organism in 
which they exist. A spermatozoa consists of a flattened oval and 
perfectly transparent body ; terminating in a filiform tapering tail, 
which together measure from one-fiftieth to one-fortieth of a line in 
length. Wagner has shown that they are developed within cells, and 
orignate from the spermatic granules, being formed by the dispersion 
of the nuclei of these cell*. 

These anamalculaa are peculiar to the spermatic fluid and consti- 
tute the chief characteristic of this secretion. They live for many 
hours after they have been ejected from the urethra ; the anplication 
of blood does not injure them, but that of urine renders their motions 
feeble and hastens their death. 

The spermatic fluid also contains a number of minute, round, col- 
orless, granular corpuscles, which vary in quantity, but are usually 
much less numerous than the spermatozoa. Both these elements of 
the sperm are suspended in a clear transparent fluid termed the 
liquor seminis, or seminal liquor. The quantity of seminal fluid 
emitted during the act of sexual congress varies from one to two ori 
three drachms. 

There is a singular fact connected with the history of these anl- 
malcnlae, that they have been discovered in very large numbers, and 
In a very lively state on more than one occasion in the fluid removed 
tyy operation from hydrocele, their presence has been attributed to a 



188 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



wound in the testicles by the instrument used in operating, and in 
the encysted form, it is supposed that it is owing to a rupture of one 
of the seminal tubuli. 

It has been already remarked that the tadpoles or spermatozoa are 
imperfect or deficient iu the semen of mules, or hybrid animals. 
Hence depends in all probability the impotence or sterility o those 
creatures. They are generally utterly incapable of generation. 
There are however instances, both among the mammalia and birds, 
of individuals belonging to species universally held to be distinct, 
uniting and producing young, which again were prolific. That the 
mule can engender with the mare, and that the she-mule can con- 
ceive, was known to Aristole. The circumstances is said to occur 
more frequently in warm countries : but it has taken place in Scot- 
land. Buffon states that the offspring of the he-goat and ewe pos- 
sesses perfect powers of reproduction. We might expect these ani- 
mals, with the addition also of the chamois, to copulate together 
easily, because they are nearly the same size, very similar in inter- 
nal structure, and accustomed to artificial domestic life, and to the 
society of each other from birth upwards. There is a similar facility 
in some birds, where such unions are often fruitful, and produce pro • 
lific offspring. The cock and hen canary birds produce with the hen 
and cock siskin and goldfinch ; the hen canary produces with the 
cock chaffinch, bullfinch, yellow hammer and sparrow. The pro- 
geny in all these cases is prolific, and breeds not only with both the 
species from which they spring, but likewise with each other. The 
common cock and the hen patridge as well as the cock and guinea 
hen, and the pheasant and the hen can produce together. 

Notwithstanding all these and perhaps other examples which 
might be adduced, the general rule is that hybrids are incompetent 
to perform the act of generation, so as to produce offspring, and it is 
a wise provision of nature that such should be the case, to prevent 
the world being inhabited by monstrous creatures, as would be the 
case, were it the general rule that fecundation followed the act of 
copulation, when practised by the offspring of parents of different 
species. 

The vesiculco seminales or seminal vesicles are tAvo sacs or oblique 
bags, behind and below the bladder, between it and the rectum, and; 
closely connected with its cellularAissue. That part which is applied 
against the bladder is concave, the opposite surface convex. They 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 189 

occupy an oblique position, their lower extremities being separated 
only by the deferent vessels, while their upper ends are at a consid- 
erable distance from each other. The latter are the larger, and their 
greatest breadth is generally three or four times less than their length ; 
and their thickness is about one-third of their breadth. They are 
about three fingers' breadth in length. Their size varies in different 
men, but this variation does not seem to depend on bodily height, 
for in some men of short stature, they are in every respect larger 
than in others who are tall. Their external appearance is unequal 
in consequence of their consisting of several convolutions, which by 
long maceration and careful dissection may be unfolded, when they 
will appear as long vessels with openings on the sides, which origin- 
ally were so applied as to correspond with each other, and to permit 
the contents of the ve.'S cles to pass through them from one part of 
the tube to the other. When distended they apparently consist of 
large irregular cells ; this is more distinctly seen when they have 
been inflated, and dried, and then laid open. 

The vesicular seminales have two coats, the outer one of which 
presents a muscular appearance in man, and is exceedingly well 
marked in some quadrupeds : the inner coat is much more vascular, 
and is everywhere on its inner surface formed into small cells of a 
honeycombed appearance, from which there are short projecting 
villi ; these cells are irregular both in size and shape, and are not 
dissimilar to those on the inner bladder and biliary ducts ; the inner 
coat has thus every appearance of being, and no doubt is. a secret- 
ing membrane. The seminal vesicles are well supplied with arteries, 
veins and absorbents. Near the prostate the cells cease to appear ; 
the vesicle contracts, and forms ft kind of duct, which unites with the 
vas deferens at a very acute angle, the place of union being marked 
by a projecting septum or valve, by which the contents of the defer- 
ent vessel are directed into the seminal vesicle. 

The ejaculatory duct, thus formed by the union of the vas deferent 
;and seminal vesicle, is from half an inch to three quarters long ; it 
[continues to become narrower as it passes behind thefcthird lobe of 
the prostate, perforates that body, and, running someway along 
ithe under surface of the urethra, enters that canal obliquely by a 
email opening on the side of the caput gallinaginis. 

The junction of the two vessels, which form this common duct is 
such, notwithstanding the acuteness of the angle, that air gently 



190 THE MAGIC WJFND AND 



thrown into the vas deferens Uy a blow-pipe, will inflate the seminal 
vesicle before it enters the urethra, but if thrown into with vio- 
lence, it -will immediately inflate both the urethra, and the seminal 
vesicle. 

When the fluid contained in the seminal vesicle is examined, it 
appears of a brownish color, and much thinner than the fluid found 
in the deferent vessels; it varies both in consistence and color in 
different parts of the vesicle. In smell it does not resemble the se- 
men ; nor does it, like the semen, become more fluid by being ex- 
posed to the air. In bodies which have been dead some time the 
color is of a darker brown color ; this might be supposed to arise 
from the contents in the vesicle having undergone a change in their 
sensible properties from putrefaction ; but when the contents of the 
vesicle and deferent vessel of the same side have been compared, 
they have been found to be different in appearance and in other 
properties. Hunter examined the contents of the senrnal vesicles 
in some cases after death, and found that although of a lighter color 
than usual, there was not any smell like that which is so peculiar 
to the semen. 

He therefore concluded that the seminal vesicles did not serve as 
receptacles for semen, but simply secreted a kind of mucus of their 
own ; and although their peculiar use had not been ascertained, it 
was, he thought, reasonable on the whole to conclude, that they 
were together with other parts, subservient tD the purposes of gen- 
eration. As additional reasons for entertaining the opinion that 
the seminal vesicle did not act as a seed-reservoir, Hunter ascer- 
tained that their peculiar contents were always found in the vesi- 
cles of those persons, who, for some reason or other, had undergone 
castration of one of the testicles. 

The seminal vesicles in animals present many peculiarities, and in 
some they are altogether absent. In the horse, they have not any 
communication with the vas deferens, or at all events the common 
passage is so short as not to admit of regurgitation from the vas 
deferens. They are not of the same size in the gelding and the stal- 
lion, being larger in the latter, but the contents are similar and near- 
ly equal in quantity in each. Thej' are very large in the boar, and 
divided into cells of a considerable extent, having one common 
duct. They have no communication with the deferent vessels, and 
their contents are dissimilar. Neither have they any communica- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 191 



tion with the vas deferens in the rat, nor in the heater— in the lat* 
ter they open on the caput gallinaginis, and are convoluted. In 
the guinea pig they constitute long cylindrical tubes, and have not 
any communication with the deferent vessels. 

These facts however do not afford a demonstrative and conclnsive 
proof that in the human subject the seed may not pass into the vesi- 
cles fro tn the deferent vessels. There is no anatomical or mechani- 
cal structure calculated to prevent such occurrences ; for, notwith- 
standing the acuteness of the angle between the two vessels at their 
junction, from the length of the common tube, the wideness of that 
part of it formed by the vesicle where the two vessels meet, and the 
very small aperture by which it opens into the urethra, the fluid 
(which from the length and contortion of the seminal tnbes, must 
pass very slowly from the testicles) will insinuate itself much more 
readily through the large communication with the vesicle, than 
through the very small ones with the urethra, unless it be prevented 
from so doing by the vesicle attempting to throw its contents into 
the urethra at the same time. During coition this attempt is made, 
and both fluids pass at once into the urethra, where the fluid secret- 
ed by the vesicles being added to that coming from the testicles by 
the defferent vessels, between them a proper quantity is produced 
to distend sufficiently the sinus of the urethra, that the muscles of 
ejection may act on its contents with more power. 

The same effect may be produced, whether the defferent vessels 
and seminal vesicles communicate or not, provided that they both 
open near each other into the urethra, and both convey their con- 
tents to it at the same time. 

In the dead body it has often been found that air or any fluid 
when not thrown into the vas deferens with much force, will fill the 
vesicle before it enters the canal of the urethra, and examining the 
contents of he vesicles, although the fluid contained near the fun- 
dus differs in color, consistence, and smell from the semen, yet that 
found near the neck is often very similar to it ; or to the fluid con- 
tained in the enlarged extremities of the deferent vessels. 

From the frequent excitement of the passions and their gratifica- 
tion being denied in the civilized state of human society, fluid must 
often be secreted in the testicles at times when it cannct be natu- 
rally evacuated ; and although the accumulation of it in this organ 
sometimes produces tension and pain, the fullness of the vessel* 



192 



THE MAGIC WAND AND 



often subsides without these unpleasant symptoms having taken 
place. Thus, when the vis a tergo no longer drives the semen slowly 
on, the muscular properties of the vas deferens may assist in con- 
veying that fluid on towards the vesicles, which may receive it until 
the time of ejectment arrives. They may thus- under particular 
circumstances, more likely to occur in the human species than in 
brutes, be employed as reservoirs, although their ordinary use may 
be to secrete a fluid which mixing with the semen during coition, 
may render the act more perfect, and more likely therefore to pro- 
duce fecundation. 

An additional reason may be adducod in support of the theory 
that the seminal vesicles act as reservoirs for the seed in man, in the 
well-known fact that animals possessing a penis, but destitute of 
seminal vesicles, remain for a long time in sexual contact, because 
the fluid necessary for fecundation, from the long course it has to 
take during copulation, only flows from the urethra drop by drop. 

A distinct communication between the seminal vesicles and the 
deferent vessels takes place only in man, and in those animals which 
most resemble him in form as in the whole tribe of the simise. The 
vesicles are altogether absent in the lion, panther, cat and dog. 

Lawrence, in his lectures on the physiology of man observes ; "be- 
cause the vesicuhc seminales in some animals, do not communicate 
with the vasa deferentia, and therefore cannot receive the fluid se- 
creted in the testicles, it has been inferred that they do not serve the 
purpose of reservoirs for the seminal secretion in man ; where how- 
ever, they have so free a communication with the vasa deferentia 
that any fluds pass into and even distend the former, before they 
go on m the urethra. The organic arrangement is different in the 
two instance?, and this difference leads us to expeot a modification 
in the functions, instead of authorizing us to infer that the same 
office is executed in exactly the same manner in both cases. If we 
met with animals in whom the cystic duct opened into the small in- 
testines separately from the hepatic, shall we therefore infer that 
the human ga]l bladder is not a receptacle for the hepatic bile?" 

The prostate, of which a brief mention has already been made, in 
shape and size somewhat resembles a chestnut. It is situated below 
and behind the bladder, and above and in front of the , rectum. The 
base inclines upwards and backwards, the apex pointing down- 
wards and forwards. A notch in the middle of the base divides the 



i 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 193 



prostate into lateral tubes, immediately above which are the lowest 
parts of the deferent vessels and seminal vesicles, the ducts of which 
begin to perforate the gland in the middle of the notch, and then, 
pass into the under part of the urethra, where it is surrounded by the 
substance of the gland. The neck of the bladder is surrounded by 
the prostate, as is also the commencement of the urethra, which 
thence obtains the name of the prostatic portion. 

The gland is connected with the symphysis pubis and its descend- 
ing rami by a strong fascia, and by planes of musclar fibres, which 
serve to support it, and by pressing on it during the contraction, aid 
in passing the secreted fluid from it into the urethra. Its substance 
isflrm and compact, and when cut into gives the sensation of divid- 
ing cartilage. It is whiter in its substance than that of any other 
gland. 

Behind the commencement of the urethra, between the passage 
of the ducts from the deferent vessels and the seminal vesicles, there 
is a portion of the prostate which is connected with both the lateral 
lobes ; this portion is occasionally called the third lobe of the pros- 
tate. When the gland becomes enlarged from disease, this part 
presses upwards towards the cavity of the bladder, immediately be- 
hind the commencement of the urethra, and occasionally bends 
over that opening, acting as a sort of valve to prevent the expulsion 
ot the urine. 

The prostate is supplied with blood by branches from the internal 
pudic : thev are comparatively few in number. Its veins and ab- 
sorbents are numerous, and empty themselves into those which con- 
nect with the bladder. The nerves of the prostate are branches 
from the intercostal plexus, which unite with others from the fourth 
and fifth sacral nerves. 

The secreting structure approaches to that of the conglomerate 
glands, and consist of minute cells, from' which small ducts arise and 
unite with each other, so as to form several vessels which terminate 
by separate orifices by the side of the caput gallinaginis. The fluid 
which is secreted is of a white or rather of a cream color ; in the 
dead body it is rather dark in color ; it is viscid and has a slightly 
salt taste. When the passage of the urethra through the gland is 
slit open from before, and the substance of the glaud is squeezed, 
this fluid may be seen to issue from several pores in the under sur- 
face of the canal. Its use seems to be to lubricate the surface of th<j 
urethra, along which the semen is to pass. It is thrown out in con» 



194 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



slderable quantity, when the parts are in a state fit for immediate 
copulation: much of it then unites with the seminal fluid, and is 
discharged with that fluid when emission takes place. 

The fluid of the prostate, like that of the seminal vesicles, is not 
absolutely necessary for the purposes of generation, in all animals 
which possess testicles ; and although the gland is found in man, and 
the tribes of the simiae, the lion, dog, etc., it is not present in the bull, 
the buck, and ram, and goat, and most probably all ruminating ani- 
mals. In these latter the coats ot the seminal vesicles are thicker 
and more glandular than in those animals who have prostates. 
Hunter is therefore of opinion that the seminal vesicles answer 
nearly the same purpose as the prostate. Both the gland and the 
vesicles are wanting in birds and amphibious animals, and in fish 
which have testicles, as the ray kind. The prostate is said to be 
double in the elephant, camel, horse and some other animals. 

The semen is evacuated into that part of the urethra which is en- 
compassed with the excretory ducts ot the prostate gland, which 
discharges its secretion by twenty-four small orifices into the ureth- 
ra, at the time when the semen is ejected ; six of these excretory 
orifices being placed before the three apertures through which the 
seed is emitted, six of them behind these apertures, and six on each 
side. Hence the seed is never evacuated, but when the liquors of 
the prostate gland goes before and follows after. It is obvious, 
therefore, how powerfully it must conduce to health, to have secre- 
tion of this gland in a sound and pure state, as it is so intimately 
connected with the finest functions in the animal economy. The 
seed and secretion of the prostate gland are intimately mixed to* 
gether in the urethra, and the latter is occasionally absorbed into 
the seminal vesicjes themselves; for these vesicles and prostate 
gland are encompassed by the same muscular membrane. The 
humor, formed by the prostate gland, when in a sound and healthy 
state, is mild or balsamic, somewhat oily o^' white ; but when it be- 
comes diseased, it has the appearance of putrid matter from an ulcer, 
although no ulcer on those parts may exist. It is most plentifully 
secreted in good health, and its action continues after the testicles 
have been taken away, but it is not then in the least prolific , hence 
it seems intended by nature, to be a vehicle to dilute, nourish, and 
convey the thick and ash-colored concocted semen. 

We have sometimes seen, in the most healthy men who have long 
abstained from venery, a copious running of the humor of this 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 195 

gland from its being in a relaxed state, during which the senien will 
be emitteu by the slightest effort, and from ideas of the mind, 
especially during sleep ; which has often proved the cause of an 
atrophy, or consumption, when effectual aid has not been procured. 
The sooner the patient gets this relaxed state of the gland restored 
the better. We have sometimes been consulted where surgeons had 
been treating the patient as if this humor from the prostate gland 
was venereal. Errors of this kind have done great mischief. This 
humor bows from the prostate gland only, and it distils slowly 
without any ejaculation, contrary to the semen, from which it 
differs. Hence we observe, that this humor, is not wanting in 
eunuchs, when they have an erection ; and the same liquor some- 
times distils iroai geldings when they strive to leap. 

This secretion, which appears like semen in castrated animals, is 
ftbsolutel}" unprolific, and destitute of every virtue for procreation. 
But although it does not contain any proliiic virtue, yet good semen 
Is not formed when those parts are corroded ; so that great caution 
should be observed, by all those entering the marriage state, to be 
well assured that this humor of the prostate gland is in a sound and 
especially sterility, Many a fine estate has been deprived of an 
aeir, as well as titles made extinct, from that cause, the true condi- 
tion of things, perhaps, having never been discovered. 

Healthy men continually separate semen trom the blood, which 
jeing retained and inspissated, like the white of an egg or starch, 
would be most immoveable, if it were not for the more thin juice of 
the prostate gland, when in a sound state, which mixes with it and 
aerves to lubricate the uretha almost like an oil. Besides this, as the 
Animalcule must stay a long time, perhaps, before it arrived in the 
uterus or womb, it seems necessary for it to be provided with a suit- 
able ailment; for, unless nature nourished the animalcule, when 
formed, it would certainly perish or become extinct; and this nutri- 
tious liquor is that of the prostate gland, which in some animals is 
larger than are the testicles themselves. 

Cowper's glands, which are situate between the bulb of the uretha 
and the membranous portion, are about the size of two small garden 
peas. They open into the canal by two small dutcs, and appear to 
secrete a mucus which serves to lubricate the urethra. They vary 
much in size and consistence, and occasionally are not to be found. 

The urethra ; a membranous canal extending from the neck of the 



196 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



bladder to trie end of the penis or yard, is divided into the prostatic, 
membranous, bulbous, and pendulous portions. Its coats are the 
same as those of the bladder ; of which it is apparently a prolonga- 
tion. The first or prostatic portion, commencing immediately from 
the neck of the bladder, is surrounded by the prostate, which it en 
ters on the upper and interior surface, a little more forwards that 
the notch at the base and proceeds in a slightly incurvated direction 
onwards towards the pubes. On the underpart of its internal sur- 
face, there is found a prominent projecting bodj r , called the caput 
gallinaginis or verumontanum, on the sides of which the common 
ducts of the deferent vessels and seminal vesicles open into the 
canal, as also the ducts cf the prostate. 

The portion of the urethra between the prostatic and bulbous por- 
tions, is called the membranous,and the reason that has been alleged 
for this is, because its circumference is less than that of any other 
part of the canal. Its length is generally about an inch, when the 
penis is in a state of erection ; when otherwise, it is somewhat less. 
It is cylindrical in form for about half its length. The urethra soon 
after takes the name bulbous, when it meets with the pendulous 
portions of the bulb, the substance of which however it does not en- 
ter until it reaches the arch of the pubes. At this part it is attached 
to the symphysis by muscular fibres. These muscles are influential 
in the expulsion of the semen. The urethra at this part enlarge^ 
somewhat at its under part, forming a kind of sinus, in which it has 
been supposed the semen may accumulate, until a sufficient quan. 
tity has been collected. The canal afterwards bends forwards and 
is surrounded by the spongy bodies, through its course along the un- 
der surface of the penis. 

The whole of the internal surface of the urethra is abundantly 
supplied with mucus to defend it from the acrimony of the urine. 
It is secreted partly by vessels which form small projections on the 
inner surface of the canal, and partly by glandular structures situ- 
ated at the bottom and sides of the Very numerous lacuna? or de- 
pressions dispersed over every part of the internal membrane, the 
openings of which are directed towards the termination of the uro-r 
thra, so that the mucus is pressed out of their cavities by the urine 
as it flows from the bladder. These lacunae vary much in their size, 
the largest being found in greatest numbers on the. upper surface, 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 197 

The urethra is very vascular, and possesses a certain degree Of 
elasticity. Its membranes are very thin, and almost transparent, 
and without fibres, so that in itself* it does not possess the power of 
muscular contraction and relaxation. It is however provided with 
muscles, the action of which is to assist the expulsion of the urine, 
and also of the seed during copulation. The membranous portion 
is surrounded by a congeries of veins, which communicate freely 
with each othir, and terminate in the veins of the bladder. They 
are also connected with the corpus spongiosum. Its length is gen- 
erally about twelve inches, but it varies much in different individ 
uals. 

The penis consists of the cavernous bodies, Ccorporo cavernosa) 
and of the spongy body (corpus spongiosm) the latter terminating 
in the gland or glans. These arc enveloped in a loose folding of 
common integuments. 

The caverijpiis bodies commence by two bodies called the crura, 
one on each side of the ischia ; they unite below and in front of the 
arch of the pubis, and constitute the upper part of the penis, in the 
upper grove, there being a large vein, two arteries, nerves, and ab- 
sorbents, and in the lower, the spongy body surrounding the ure- 
thra 

The corpus spongiosum begins at the bulb in the form of an ob- 
long swelling of a pyriform shape. It is incurvated forward, grad- 
ually becoming narrower, until it reaches the groove on the under 
part of the cavernous bodies ; it then becomes cylindrical in shape, 
until it assumes a conical form when terminating in the glans penis. 
According to some anatomists it consists simply of a congeries Qf 
veins freely communicating with each other, while in the opinion 
of others it consists of cells formed and divided by a trellis work 
from each other, similar in structure to the cavernous bodies, but on 
a less scale and more regular. 

The convex conical surface of the glands covered by a fine mem- 
brane, in color resembling the red part of the lips. At its base or 
corona there are rows of projecting papillae which secrete a sebace- 
ous matter having a peculiar smell. The gland, which possesses ex- 
quisite sensibility, is protected by the loose covering called the pre- 
puce or foreskin, which is tied to the penis immediately below the 
orifice of the urethra, by the band called the framum ; this limits 
the motion of the prepuce and tends to keep it in its proper place. 



198 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

The spongy substance of the urethra, which forms the glans penis, 
is covered externally wi;h an exceeding thin membrane or cuticle, 
under which are placed the very sensible nervous papilla?, which 
are the chief seat and cause of pleasure and pain in this part. We 
may now understand why many, in the venereal act, have not the 
glans distended, though the whole penis is, at the same time, turgid; 
because the glans belong entirely to the cavernous body of the ure- 
thra ; and if that body be paralytic or weakened from any prece- 
ding or existing cause, which we have known often to proceed trom 
irregular practices ; in all those people where the spongy body of 
the urethra is not distended, impotence will arise, which if not per- 
fectly understood, cannot be cured by any physician. 

Whereas, in healthy men, when these organs are in due tone, dur- 
ing the orgasmus veneris,or the moment before the semen is ejected, 
the glans and whole cavernous body of the urethra are extremely 
turgid, so as to be ready to burst ; but soon after, a kind of convul- 
sive motion follows, and the semen is discharged with a slight loss 
Of strength for a little time throughout the whole body, which soon 
recovers its usual vigor. 

During coition the corpus spongiosum and glans penis are rendered 
turgid by the blood filling their vascular structure and the whole 
canal of the urethra is lengthened but made more narrow and 
straight. The seed is gradually deposited in the sinus of the bulb ; 
the glans being placed at the other extremity of the corpus spon- 
giosum, and endowed with a peculiar seasibility, when a sufficient 
quantity of semen is collected, excites the muscles covering the 
bulb to action, and the contraction of the fibres taking place, the se- 
men is propelled rapidlj* along the canal ; the blood in the bulb is at 
the same time pressed forwards but requiring a greater impulse, it 
forms an modulatory wave behind the semen, narrowing the urethra, 
and urging on the semen, with increased force. 

The corpora cavernosa are covered by a white elastic ligament of 
some thickness, and are not ver}' vascular and are separated by a 
perforated septum, which allows the blood contained in the cellular 
structure to pass readity through its openings from one to another. 
They consist of numerous cells of very irregular size and shape, 
bounded by a net-like membranous substance which allows of as 
ready a communication between the cavities as does the septum. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 199 



The cells of the corpora cavernosa have been thought to be more or 
less muscular, and it is said that in the horse they are evidently so. 
These bodies are supplied with blood by branches from the pudic, 
which subdivides into small vessels, and are distributed everywhere 
throughout their structure. 

When the passion of desire does not exist, the blood isnotponred 
out into the cells, but returns by the vrins as usual, and the penis 
remains flaccid ; but when a person is under the influence of partic- 
ular impressions which excite the nerves of these parts, the minute 
arterial branches which before had their orifices closed, have their 
action suddenly increased, and pour from their open mouths the 
blood into these cells, so as to distend them, of course overcoming 
the elastic power that under ordinary circumstances keeps them 
collapsed. In thi3 way the penis is rendered fit to convey the semen 
to the f emalfj organs of generation, The erection of the penis is 
greatly aided by the action of certain muscles called the erectors of 
the penis. 

The great veins of the penis is formed by branches from the gland, 
sides of the corpus spongiosum, and common integuments, runs along 
the back of the penis in the upper groove to its root, where it divides 
into two vessels which pass under the arch of the pubes, receive other 
veins from the prostate and bladder, and empty themselves into 
the internal iliac. The absorbents of the penis are very numerous, 
and terminate in the glands of the groin The nerves are derived 
from the lumbar and sacral nerves, and from the inferior mesen- 
teric plexus. 

This chapter will be most appropriately terminated by some obser- 
vations on puberty, and ths changes it effects in the system. 

The approach of puberty induces marked changes in the general 

system of man, as well as in the local organ..- w'.vich are subservient 

to generation. The growth of hair on the chin, upper lip, and sides 

of the face, and on the pubes, the peculiar alteration of the voice, 

the greater firmness of muscle, the extraordinary change in the 

passions and feelings, together with the great increase in the size of 

the penis and testicles, show the advent of a peculiar change in the 

I svstem, by which it is adapted for the propagation of the species. 

The desire fo~ connexion with the female, implanted in man by na- 

.ture for a wise purpose becomes developed after the period of pub- 

? erty, and the organs by which the act is performed, gradually a* 

■ume their full vigor and dimensions. 



200 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



The age at which the peculiar changes in the organism called 
puberty takes place varies in different climates and different con- 
stitutions. It is also influenced by the mode of life and circumstance'? 
of the individual. The period of puberty occurs earlier in warm 
than in cold climates : in temperate countries, it takes place from 
the fourteenth to the seventeenth year ; the passions of youths liv- 
ing in large cities and towns are however excited earlier than those 
of the agricultural population, on account of the greater sources of 
temptation to which they are exposed. 

In those animals which are not endowed with reason to guide their 
actions, the desire for copulation occurs periodically, and in some 
the testicles increase in size until the season of procreation is over, 
and then decrease, and continue small, uatil the commencement of 
the next season. Evidence of this may be readily found in the tes- 
ticles of the cock-sparrow, which progressively increase in size from 
January till th« end of April, when the love season of these birds 
usually terminates. The incrfcase and diminution of these organs 
however do not take placs in birds only, but has been discovered in 
many other animals, more especially in the land-mouse and mole. 

There are several reasons which might be alleged for the existence 
of a periodical desire for copulation among animals— were it other- 
wise, as the passion for sexual intercourse is very powerful, and ani 
xnalsdo not pcssess the light of reason so as to be enabled to restrain 
or subdue their passions, it is probable that from its excessive indul- 
gence, all their other habits might be lost, and even the necessity of 
providing for their present and future wants might be forgotten ; 
besides which in those animals which are fruitful, and which do not 
long carry their young,their number would be in a short time exceed- 
ingly great, far beyond the means of support that nature has pro- 
vided for them. Another reason might be alleged, that were domes- 
tic animals always in heat, they would be of comparatively little 
service to man, while the flesh of wild ones would be too coarse and 
rank, and altogether unfit for the purposes of nourishment. 

The period of the year during which the desire for copulation 
principally exists in animal is that of spring— few experience any 
sexual desire during the winter, except the flog, wolf, and fox ; the 
severity of the cold seems to destroy, at least for the time, all such 
feelings. On the other hand, in climates where the summer is very 
hot. the genital organs of animals then become so much relaxed in 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 201 



tone, as to rendfir them unfit for the proper perforn ance of the ne- 
cessary act. 

The case is however somewhat different in domestic animals ; the 
passion is less periodical, the secretion of semen not being arrested 
by cold, to which they are much less exposed, and the circumstances 
in which they are placed being altogether different. 

In man the desire for procreation arises at puberty, and may and 
can be indulged in, if health and the requisite powers continued at all 
times and seasons of the year. Being endowed by nature with the 
high, the exalted fuetion of reason, he is left a free agent, having 
the full power to use or abuse his capabilities, with the consciousness 
that if he do abuse the functions with which he is gifted, ha must 
abide the penalty. Man is not affected by changes of temperature 
as are the ^ld animals either as respects excessive heat or intense 
cold, and, consequently the human testicles are generally the same 
in dimensions after puberty throughout the year. 

The desire for sexual intercourse in man begins after puberty, and 
is ?ons>entaneous with the secretion of semen or seed by the testi- 
cles. It is preposterous to say it depends on the occurrence of that 
secretion, as both the passion for copulation and the secretion of se- 
men are but indications of the great change which take place in the 
symtem at that epoch. It does not however exist before the testicles 
being to enlarge in size, and perform their proper function, and it is 
said but untruly, to be lost when the operation of castration has 
been performed. Those eunuchs only are not influenced by the de" 
sire for procreation who were deprived of the organs of generation 
prior to puberty ; those who were castrated subsequent to that event 
still entertain the desire for intercourse, although in a less degree 
than men who have all their organs entire. Desire is more languid 
in advanced age than during the period of the adult life ; the seed 
is then more sparingly secreted, and indeed all the functions of 
the system are performed in a less energetic manner, although, as 
will soon be shown, old men are not in every instance deprived 
of the power of generation. Desire is also very moder ate in persons 
who have small organs, and occasionally, it is altogether absent. 
Spermatozoa have been discovered in the testicles of men upwards 
of seventy years of age, and on one occasion in the organs of a tai- 
lor, who died at the age of eighty-seven. There are even circum- 
stances on record of persons retaining the procreative faculty to the 
age of one hundred years ; but in these cases, as in the well known 



202 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



instance of old Parr, the general bodily powers were also preserved 
in an extraordinary degree. 

Swelled testicles or hernia humoralis, more especially that pro- 
ceeding from gonorrhoeal irritation, is ushered in and d scovered in 
t^e following manner: The patient, on some sudden movement of 
the body, experiences a pain, darting from one of the testis, (both 
being rarely affected at the same time) to the loins- the lefc testicle 
is the one generally attacked. On examination, he finds that the 
testicle is rather swollen and full, and very painful on being han- 
dlued , the swelling quickly increases and becomes hard, which 
hardness extends to the spermatic chord, presenting the feel of a 
rope, passing from the scrotum to the groin. / 

It is remarkable that when swelled testicle occurs, the discharge 
from the urethra, which, from previously b n -ing very profuse, and 
the scalding on making water, which was very severe, both suddenly 
d minish, or cease entirely, until the inflammation of the testis de- 
clines; hence, it has been supposed by some, that the disease is 
translated from the urethra to the testicle. 

It is more probably however, derived from the sympathy between 
the two; the irritation of the one affecting the ether, and the pre- 
ponderance of inflammation in the testicle acting on the principle of 
counter-irritation to the urethra, and for a time, thereby lessening 
the disease in it : for it is observed that, as soon as one improves, the 
disease returns in the other. The treatment of hernia humcaalia 
must be strictly antiphoiogistic. In no form of gonorrhoeal disease 
is bleeding more absolutely necessary. 

The timely and prompt loss of twelve or sixteen ounces of blood 
from the arm will often cut short the complaint, and rende/ other 
remedies almost unnecossary ; while the temporising delay, under 
the vain hope of the inflammation subsiding, will allow the disease 
to make rapid progress, and impose a necessity of several weeks' 
rest and absence from business, before a cure can be effected. 

Immediately, then, on the occurrence of swelled testicle, we would 
recommend the patient to be bled -to take some aperient medicine, 
and, if the inflammation continues, to apply from twelve to eighteen 
leeches, and afterward suffer the wounds to bleed for twenty minutes 
In a warm bath ; to retire to bed or to the sofa, and to maintain a 
horizontal uosture. If he be strong, young, and robust, an emetic 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 203 



may be given previous to the aperient, which has been known to re- 
move the swelling almo3t instantaneously. 

Iodine also pos.-essc a similar specific property in reducing swelled 
testicle, and may be taken during the inflammatory stage after 
bleeding and aperients, as may likewise the chlorate or hydriodate 
of potass. 

With regard to local applications, the repeated employment of 
leeches, fomentations, and poultices, with the frequent use of the 
warm bath, and, above all, keeping the testicle constantly supported 
by means of a bag, truss, or suspensory bandage, will subdue the 
disease in a very short time, without impairing the functions of the 
important organ concerned. 

A hardness, however, of the epididymis commonly remains and 
continues during life, but rarely gives rise to any inconvenience, 
although this may often be remedied by compressing the testicle 
with strips of adhesive plaster. 

Almost every case of inflamed testicle will terminate favorably by 
strictly pursuing the plan proposed ; but when, from any untoward 
circumstance, the inflammation proceeds to suppuration, the case 
must be treated like one of common abscess, in whish event profes- 
sional aid should be sought for without delay. Our terms for advice 
and treatment vary from $10 to $15. The latter sum only in very 
obstinate cases. 

Gleet.— Gleet is a certainty, as its name implies, a discharge of 
thin ichor from a sore. Patients usually understand, and medical 
men usually a How, a gleet to be a discharge from the urethra, which 
has existed some time, of a whitish color, unattended with pain, and 
that is not infectious, by which is meant incapable of producing gon- 
orrhoea. There are several kinds of morteid secretions, the success- 
ful treatment of which depends upon a knowledge of their differ- 
ences. They may be divided into two principal orders— those se- 
creted from the mucus surface of the urethra or bladder, and those 
which proceed from the various glands leading into one or the other. 
Gleet is a term popularly applied to both, but more strictly relates to 
that which proceeds from the membrane lining the urinary canal. 
There is great analogy in inflammatory affections between the'mucus 
membrane of the digestive and pulmonary, as well as urinary pas- 
sages. In inflammatory sore throat, the secretions assume various 
appearances : there is a discharge of viscid mucus, cr purulent mat- 



204 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

ter, or of a thin watery nature ; these secretions are dependent upon 
ths amount and duration of the inflammation present. Exactly 
in like manner may be explained those issuing from the urethra. 
They are consequently alike modified by treatment, by diet, by rest, 
and aggravated by a departure from constant care. It is the nature 
of all membranes, lining canals that have external outlets, to attempt 
the reparative process by pouring forth discharges, while those 
which line the structures that have not, effect their cure by union 
with the opposite surface. It is an admirable provision, else im- 
portant passages might become closed, and so put a stop to vital 
processes ; and in the other case, accumulations ensue that could not 
eseape without occasioning serious mischief. When, however, dis- 
ease has existed a long time, the operation of the two kinds of mem- 
branes is reversed. The serous, through inflammation, take on the 
character of abscess, dropsy, or other secretions, and the mucus 
ulcerate or form adhesions, as evidenced in stricture, or ulceration 
of the throat or urethra. Gleet may be a spontaneous disease, that 
is to say, may arise from other causes than infection. It may exist 
independently of gonorrhoea, and be the result o ,_ cold, of intemper- 
ance, and of general or of local excess. Its long continuance and 
neglect, however, renders it infectious, and it also gives rise to 
ulceration, excrescences, and stricture : and when from other causes, 
ulceration, or excrescences, or stricture, are set up, gleet is in return 
generally one of their consequences. Gleet, despite these various 
occasions, is, after all, most frequently a remnant of gonorrhoea; 
and it is very difficult to define the time or point where the one ends 
and the other commences. Pathologists draw this distinction be- 
tween the two :— they say that gonorrhceal discharge consists ot 
globules, mixed with a serous fluid, while gleet is merely a mucus 
secretion. We confess it difficult for a non-professional person to 
decide which is which, the resemblance, in fact, being so great— a 
gonorrhceal discharge being one day thick and yellow, a few days 
afterward thin and whitish, and at one time in quantity scanty, and 
the next profuse. Gleet assumes nearly the same changes. The best 
test for distinguishing them is, by regarding the accompanying symp- 
toms. Where there is pain on passing water, bladder-irritability, 
tenderness in the perinceum or neighboring parts, and the discharge 
plentiful and offensive, staining the linen v ith a '• foul spot," it may, 
without much fear, be decided to be clap ; but where the discharge 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 205 

hi next to colorless, like gum-water, for instance, ,md where there is 
no other local uneasiness than a feeling of relaxation, and where it 
has existed for a long period, and was, or was not, preceded by a 
gonorrhoea, it may fairiy be called a gleet. Now where does the dis- 
charge of gleet come from ? Let us recapitulate its causes ; first from 
clap, which is a specific inflammatory affection. It may therefore 
be a chronic inflammatory state of the lining membrane of the ure- 
thra, of greater or less extent ; in which case we would call it chronic 
gonorrhoea, and which would be owing to a relaxed state of the se- 
cretive vesse's. We know that when a disease exists for a long while, 
and is one not positively destructive to life, a habit of action is 
acquired that renders its continuation in that state as natural as its 
healthy condition. This is the state of the secretive vessels in gleet, 
arising from gonorrhoea ; and hence the discharge is poured forth, 
instead of the secretion natural to the urethral passage in its healthy 
order. Secondly, such may have been the severity of a clap, that 
ulceration of some portion of the urethra may have taken place. 
The disease may have got well except in that identical spot which, 
owing to the constant irritation occasioned bjMhe urine passing over 
it, struggles with the reparative intention and effort of nature, and 
exists even for years. Thirdly, when stricture is brewing, which 
will be explained in an appropriate chapter, the alteration going on 
gives forth a discharge, and, as we have stated in another part of this 
work we here repeat, that a long and obstinate gleet, as the slightest 
examination would testify, rarely fails to indicate the presence of a 
stricture. Lastly, gleet may be produced by loss of tone in some of 
the whole portion of the secretive vessels, induced by one or many 
of the accidents of life, or the various kinds of physical intemper- 
ance when they not only weep forth various kinds of fluids, at irreg- 
ular intervals, which impair the muscular and nervous energy of the 
generative organ, but render persons laboring under this description 
of weakness very susceptible of infection, if they hold sexual contact 
with those but slightly diseased. Hence persons laboring under this 
form of debility incur what others escape. An individual so circum- 
stanced would receive a taint from a female having leucorrhoca. 
Very many inconveniences have arisen from this infirmity, giving 
birth occasionally to unjust suspicions, and creating alarms of the 
most distressing nature. 
Thus, then, we may have gleet from gonorrhoea, gleet from ulcc^ 



206 



THE MAGIC WAND AND 



ration, gleet from stricture, gleet from debility and discharges, poj* 
ularly understood to be gleet, but in reality glandular secretions, 
which will be considered shortly and separately. Gleet is a tire- 
some and troublesome disorder. So difficult, occasionally, as its 
management, that oftentimes the more regularly a patient lives, 
and the more strictly he conforms to medical regimen, the more de- 
ceptive is his disorder. He will apparently be fast approaching to, 
as he conceives, a recover}', when, without " rhyme or reason," 
the complaint recurs, and hints that his past forbearance has been 
thrown away. It would be dispiriting, indeed, were every case of 
gleet to realize this description ; but it is well known that many do, 
either from neglect or mismanagement. >-ow it must be evident 
that the treatment of gleet depends upon what may happen to be 
the occasion of it. Where the membrane of the urethra is entire, 
internal remedies may, and do a v ail. Copaiba will achieve wonders: 
the use al«o of a mild injection, perseveringly employed (as a solu- 
tion of iodide of iron, or citrate of iron, ten grains to the ounce of 
water), will give tone and stringency to the weakened vessels, and 
so correct the quantity, at least, of the secretion. In ver3 r obstinate 
cases, stronger injections, as of the nitrate of silver, twenty grains 
to the ounce of water, are serviceable ; and we are not without 
many useful internal medical combinations, which, properly admin 
istered, conquer this troublesome complaint In ulceration and 
stricture, these two causes must be removed, else all efforts are un- 
availing. In general and local debility, the attention must be de- 
voted to the constitution. Common sense and common reading must 
give to persons, possessing both, every necessary information. The 
community are beginning to appreciate the advantages of tempe* 
ranee, air, and exercise, too highly, to need instructions how much 
of the one or either of the other two are essential to the preserva 
tion or recovery of health. 

Morbid Irritability of the Urethra.— Of the varied 
symptomatic sensations, few are more provoking and fretting than 
some continued troublesome itching or pain that frequently attends 
the passing of water. There maybe no discharge of any kind, but 
there is either a constant tingling, partially nleasureable sensation, 
drawing the attention perpetually to the ureUira, or there is felt 
seme particular heat or pain during the act of micturition. These 
feelings do n )t always indicate a venereal affection ; tl:ey appear to 






MEDICAL GUIDE. 207 



depend upon local irritation, perhaps induced by a morbid condition 
of the urine. The treatment consists in temperate diet, moderately 
laxative medicines, and now and then local applications. Some 
cases yield to sedatives topically applied, and alkalies given inter- 
nally, while others need local stimulants and specific tonics. At all 
events, whenever there is an unhealthy feeling in those parts, it 
points out some altered action is going on, which, if not arrested, is 
likely to end in stricture or gleet, and therefore attention had better 
be bestowed upon it as soon as possible. For this purpose let the 
patient at once communicate with us, with full details of his par- 
ticular symptoms. A full course of medicines and advice, as to 
proper treatment and dietary restrictions will be at once forwarded 
upon receipt of $12. Our medicines are securely packed, and are 
secure from observation. Sent by Express to all parts of the 
country. 

On Stricture of tlie Urethra.— Of all diseases of the genito- 
urinary system, stricture must be allowed to be the most formidable. 
It i3 not difficult to cure ; but it involves, when neglected, more se- 
rious disturbances— disturbances which frequently compromise only 
with loss of life. Stricture is a disease unfortunately of extensive . 
prevalence ; and in nine cases out of ten is the sequence of a gonor- 
rhoea ; and, what is still more comforting, few persons who become 
the prey to the latter infliction escape scot free from the former; 
not because a clap must necessarily be succeeded by a stricture, but 
simply because it is, and all owing to the carelessness and inatten- 
tion manifested by most young men in the observances so necessary 
for the perfect cure of the primary disease. One very prevalent 
notion and which explains a principal cause of the extension of the 
venereal disease, is entertained, that the way to give the finishing 
coup to an expiring clap, is to repeat the act that gives rise to it-. 
the disease becomes temporarily aggravated, and the impatient in- 
valid probably flies, from an unwillingness to confess his new error, 
from his own tried and medical friend to some professional stranger. 
From a desire to earn fame as well as profit, the newly consulted 
prescribes some more powerful means ; the discharge is arrested for 
a while, but returns after the next sexual intercourse j a strong in- 
jection subdues the recurrent symptom, which only awaits a fresh 
excitement for its reappearance. Thus gleet is established. Tho 
patient finding little or no inconvenience from the slight oozing, 



208 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

which, as he observes, is sometimes better and occasionally worse, 
according to his mode of living, determines to let nature achieve 
her own cure, and for months he drags wittfhim a distemper that, 
despite all his philosophy, he cauno t reflect on without an humilia- 
ting diminution of self-approval. So insidiously, however, does the 
complaint worm its progress, that the patient, considering his pre- 
sent state the worst that can befall him, resolves to endure it, since 
it appears his own constitutional powers are incapable of throwing 
it off. 

In the midst of this contentment, the invalid finds that the process 
of urinating engages more time than formerly, the urine appears to 
flow in a smaller stream, and is accompanied by a sensation as 
though there were some pressure M behind it." The act of making 
water is not performed so cleanly as it used to be ; the stream differs 
in its flow, seldom coming out full and free, but generally split into 
three or four fountain-like spirts. 

At other times it twists into a spiral form, and then suddenly 
splits into two or more streams, while at the same moment the 
urine drops over the person or clothes, unless great care be ob- 
served. 

In advanced cases, the urethra becoming so narrow the bladder 
has not power to expel the urine forward, and it then falls upon the 
shoes or trowsers, or between them. 

Persons afflicted with stricture, and urinating in the streets, may 
almost he detected from the singular attitude they are obliged to 
assume to prevent the urine from inconveniencing them, and also 
from the time occupied in discharging it. Some few minutes after 
making water, when dressed and proceeding on his way, the patient 
finds his shirt become moist by some drops of urine that continue to 
ooze from the penis : anp it is only as these annoyances accumulate, 
he begins to think he is laboring under some other disease than the 
gleet. The.next symptom he will experience will be a positive but 
temporary difficulty in passing his water— perhaps a total inability 
to do so ; it will, however, subside in a few minutes. This will lead 
him to reflect, and he will even appease his fears by inclining to 
think it may the consequence of his last night's excess : he resolves 
to be more careful in the future, and he gets better; his contempla- 
ted visit to his usual professional adviser, if he have one, is postponed, 
and a few more weeks go by without a return of the hist symptom. 
The next attack, which is very difficult to avert , and which is sure 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 209 

to accompany the succeeding debauch, or to follow a cold or fati?ue, 
does not so speedily subside ; the patient finds that he can not com 
nlete the act of making water without several interruptions, and 
each attended with a painful desire resembling that induced by too 
long a retention of that fluid In that state he eagerly seeks medical 
assistance ; the treatment generally adopted consisting of some 
sedative, immersion in a hot bath, or the passage of a bougie. 
Relief being thus easily obtained, professional advice is thus thrown 
up, and the symptoms are again soon forgotten. Before proceed- 
ing further with the more severe forms and consequences of stricture 
which may now be fairly said to have commenced in earnest, a 
brief anatomical description of the urethra may enable the reader 
to understand how the constr.ction or narrowing of that canal takes 
place. 

We have elsewhere stated the urethra to be a membraneous canal, 
running from the orifice ot the penis to the bladder, and situated in 
the lower groove formed by the corpus spongiosum. 

The difference of opinion entertained by some of our first anato- 
mists, on the structure of the urethra, is deserving of notice ; for 
only in proportion to the correctness of our knowledge of it,can we 
arrive at a just definition of its diseases. 

One party as-erts it to be an elastic canal— whether membraneous or 
muscular they do not say— endowed with similar properties of elas- 
ticity to India rubber, or to a common spring. That it is elastic, is 
beyond doubt ; but the mere assertion is no explanation of its mode 
of action. 

Others,from miscroscopical observations.declare it to consist of two 
coats— a fine internal membrane, which, when the urethra is col- 
lapsed, lies in longitudinal folds— and an external muscular one, 
composed of very short fasciculi of longitudinal fibres, interwoven 
together, and connected by their orgins and insertions with each 
other, and united bj* an elastic substance of the consistence of mu- 
cus. This is the more satisfactory of the two. 

They account for the occurrence of stricture in this way. They 
gay that "a permanent stricture is that contraction of the canal 
which takes place in consequence of coagulable lymph being exuded 
between the fasciculi of muscular fibres and the internal mem- 
brane, in different quantities, according to circumstances." 

A spasmodic stricture they define to be "a eont; action of a small 



210 THE MAGIC WAND AND 






portion of longitudinal muscular fibres, while the rest are relaxed; 
and as this may take place either all round, or upon any side, it ex- 
plains what is met with in practice— the marked impression of a 
stricture sometimes a circular depression upon ihe bougie, at others 
only on one .side." 

With respect to the change consequent upon permanent stricture, 
dissection enables us, in some degree, to arrive at the truth. Ex- 
crescences and tubercles have, been found growing from the wall of 
the urethra ; but in the majority of instances, the only perceptible 
change is a thickening of the canal here and there, of indefinite 
length; but whether it be occasioned by the exudation of coagula- 
ble l}'mph, or whether it be the adhesion of ulcerated surfaces, 
which we contend are more or less present in gleet, is not so easy to 
determine ; at all events, it is undoubtedly the result of inflamma- 
tion. 

With regard to the action of spasm, all we know of it is theoreti- 
cr.l ; but experience every day furnishes instances of its occurrence. 

Spasmodic stricture is generally seated at the neck of the bladder 
and may occur to persons in good health, from exposure to wet or 
cold ; from some digestive derangement ; from long retention ot the 
urine, particularly while walking, owing to the absence of public 
urinals ; or to violent horse exercise ; but more frequently docs it 
happen to those young men who, when suffering from gleet or gon- 
orrhoea, imperfectly or only partially cured, are tempted to commit 
an excess in wine, spirits, or other strong drinks.. Surrounded by 
jovial society, glassful after glassful is swallowed, each one to be the 
last. The patient, with his bladder full to repletion, scarcely able 
to reta'n his water, yet probably "going" every moment, represses 
his desire until the party breaks up, when, on encountering the cold 
air, he finds himself unable to void even a drop, or if so, but with 
extreme difficulty. The greater the effort, and the more determined 
the straining, the greater is the impossibility, and relief should be 
afforded, or the most alarming consequences may ensue. 

The rationale is this : the patient, opposing the action of the mus- 
cles of the bladder, by contracting those of the urethra, they (the 
latter), from irritation, become spasmodically contracted. 

The urine, by the powerful action of the muscles of the bladder, is 
forced against the contracted portion of the urethra : and by its 
rritafion increases ths mischief. Where neglected, or unless the 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 211 

ipasms yield, extravasation will take place, mortification ensue, and 
death follow. 

The urethra is situated at the under part of the penis, and is em 
braced by a substance called tho corpus spongiosum ; it (the urethra) 
consists of several different layers or coats— the inner, the one con- 
tinuous with that lining the bladder, which possesses the power of 
secreting a mucus fluid, and the other made up of muscular fibres, 
which gives to the urethra the power of contracting and dilating, 
that regulares the flowing or getting of the fluid which has to pass 
through it. The mucus membrane of the urethra is of a highly 
sensitive nature, and more so in some parts than in others, as, for 
instance, in the membranous and bulbous portion of the canal ; and 
hence it will be found, that those are the parts most liable to dis- 
ease. The mucus membrane has several openings called lacunce, 
for the furnishing a particular fluid to moisten and lubricate the 
urinary tube : these also are frequently the seat of disease. 

Independently of the function of the urethra being to discharge 
the urine, it has also to convey the semen to the orifice of the glans; 
and here in this act is to be observed the wonderful adaptation of 
means to the end. During the excitement attendant upon venereal 
commerce, the seminal fluid accumulates, prior to emission, in the 
bulbous portion, and when the fitting moment arrives for its ejec- 
tion the membranous portion spasmodically contracts, thereby pre- 
venting the regurgitation of the semen into the bladder, while the 
muscles surrounding the bulbous portion contract with energetic 
for and so complete the transmission of the generative fluid. Such 
are the functions of the urethra in health. Now, this canal being 
extensively supplied with nerves, that have more extensive com- 
munication with others than any particular ones have in the whole 
body, and made up, as before stated, of surfacial and muscular 
membranes and exposed to performance ef several duties which are 
often unduly called into exercise, cannot be supposed to be exempt 
from the consequences of such misappropriation ; and therefore it is 
very liable to inflammation. From the sensitive nature of the tube, 
it is very obnoxious to spasm, which may be partial, temporary, or 
continuous ; hence spasmodic stricture. This condition is of course 
dependent upon many causes, excess of diet, fatigue, cold, etc., irri- 
tation the general system ; when from the local irritation previously 
set up in the urethra by the forenamed causes— a neglected gleet or 



212 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



clap— the urethra is not long in participating in it ; the phenomena 
are the symptoms recently narrated. Highly restorative as the 
power of nat ^e may be to remove disease, she does not appear 
readily disposed to interfere with the processes set up in the ma- 
chine she inhabits, for self-defence to protect itself from the con- 
stant irritation produced by tho daily flow of acrid urine, which in 
several cases often produces ulceration ; coagulable lymph is thrown 
out in the cellular structure of the particular diseased parts, thereby 
thickening the walls thereof, constituting permanent stricture, it 
appearing preferable to impede a function which a narrowing of the 
urethric canal does, namely, that of urinating, than of allowing ul- 
ceration to ensue, whereby the urine would escape into the neigh- 
boring parts, and occasion great devastation, and probabl death. 
Permanent strict ire. as its name implies, outlies the patient ; it 
never yields unassisted by art. I have described the ordinary symp- 
toms of stricture, especially that form induced by gonorrhoea. 
Stricture may arise from other causes. Inflammation, in whatever 
way set up, if allowed to go on or remain, will rise to stricture, and 
the celerity or tardiness with which it takes place depends upon cir- 
cumstances. An injury from falling astride any hard substance, 
blows, wounds, contusions occasioned by riding, the presence of 
foreign substances, the injudicious use of injections, and lastly, 
which is as frequent a cause as any one of those heretofore numer- 
ated, misturbation. The violent manual efforts m \de by a young 
sensualist to procure the sexual organism for the third or fourth 
time continuously, I have known to be of that degree that irritation 
has been communicated to the whole length of the urethra, extend- 
ing even to the bladder ; and retention of urine, in the instance we 
alluded to, ensued, and required much attention before it could bo 
subdued. Excessive intercourse with females will give rise to the 
same effects ; not so iikely as in the case preceding, inasmuch as the 
former can can be practiced whenever desired, while the latter 
needs a participator. The act of masturbation repeated, as it is, by 
many youths and others, day after day, and frequently several times 
within each twenty-four hours, must necessarily establish a sensi- 
tiveness or irritability in the parts, and alternation of stricture is 

sure to follow. 

The positive changes which take place in stricture in the urethral 
passage are these: there ensues a thickening and condensation of the 
de.Iicaic membrane and the cellular tissue underneath, which may 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 213 



possibly unite it to the muscular coats. This thickening or condensa 
tion is the result of what we call effusion of coagulable lymph. It 
will be rather difficult to explain the process ; but lymph is that fluid 
understood to be the nutritious portion of our sustenance or system, 
and which is here yielded up by the vessels which absorb it, and 
which vessels abound, with few exceptions, in every tissne of our 
body. However, it will suffice to say, that where inflammation takes 
place, there is an alteration of stricture, and that alteration is gener- 
ally an increase. In stricture, this increase or thickening takes place, 
as we observed before, in particular parts of the urethra, but where 
the inflammation is severe, no part is exempt, and whole lengths of 
the passage become < ccasionally involved. It is true, certain parts 
are more predisposed than others, as, for instance, the membraneous, 
bulbous, and prostatic portions of the canal ; but there are oftentimes 
cases to be met with where these parts are free, and the remainder 
blocked up. This effusion or thickening assumes various shapes, and 
selects various parts of the urethra. 

In protracted and neglected cases, that part of the urethra between 
the stricture and bladder becomes dilated from frequent pressure 
of the urine upon it, induced by irritability ot the bladder, which 
has an increasing desire to empty itself. In process of time, com- 
plete retention of urine will ensue, ulceration will take place at the 
irritable spot, and effusion of urine into the surrounding parts will 
follow ; and the consequences will be, as in the instance of the spas- 
modic affection, fatal, unless controlled by the skilful interference 
of the surgeon. 

The symptoms of permanent stricture are often as slow in their 
progress, and as insidious in their nature, as they are appalling in 
their results, and are seldom distinctly observed by the patient, until 
firmly established. 

He is suffering from a long-continued gleet, and is first alarmed by 
a partial retention of urine— it passes by drops, or by great straining, 
or not at all. This usually occurs after intemperance, and is relieved 
by the warm bath, fomentations and la.- .ii e medicines. This is the 
first stage, and is attributed to the debauch solely ; whereas, at this 
time an alteration of structure is going on in the u-ethra. Its calibre 
is becoming d'minished, which necessarily causes the urine to flow 
in a smaller stream. This is not observed at fi'st : ani it is only after 
4 long period that the patient becomes aware of the fact. 



214 



THE MAGIC WAND AND 



The disease proceeds In the morning, from the gluing togethet 
of the sides of the urethra, by the discharge from itfc diseased surface, 
the urine flows in a forked or double stream ; and then, as this ag« 
glutinution is dissolved, it becomes natural. 

There is a greater and more frequent desire to make water, dis- 
turbing sleep many times during the night, but unattended with 
pain, unless the neck of the bladder be affected. 

There are also uneasy sensations in the perinogum, a sense of 
weight in the pelvis, with flying pains in the hips ; and in the perma- 
nent stricture there is a remarkable symptom frequently prevailing 
—that is. a pain extending down the left (high from the perinceum. 

As the disease advances, the urine flows in only a very small 
stream, or forked, twisted, double, or broken, or in drops; and the 
patient solicits the flow by pressing with his finger on the perinoeum, 
and elongating the canal, somewhat after the manner in which a 
dairy-maid milks a cow. 

The dilation of the urethra between the stricture and the bladder 
already alluded to, now takes place ; and some urine remains in the 
dilated part, which oozes through the stricture, making the patient 
wet and uncomfortable. 

There is great difficulty felt, and more time is occupied in getting 
rid of the last drop of water, than formerly. This sensation continues 
all along; and the cure is never accomplished until this is finally 
removed. 

If the stricture is still neglected, more severe symptoms come on, 
and the neighboring parts become affected also. 

The sphincter ani. or the muscles of the anus, are relaxed, from 
the excessive action of the abdominal muscles ; and the focces pass 
in small quantities involuntarily. There is a protrusion of the bowel, 
which adds to the distress, and, by its irritation, brings on a looseness 
or diarrhoea. 

The prostate gland, which is seated near the neck of the bladder, 
suffers inflammation and enlarges, beginning at the orifice of tho 
ducts, which open into the urethra. 

The emission of semen, which often happens involuntarily, is at- 
tended with agonizing pain, producing cold shivering*, followed by 
heat ; and fever soon becomes fairly established. 

The liver and its secretions become diseased, discharging in the 
intestines large quantities of vitiated bile. The fever assume ihe 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 215 

intermittent character. The discharge from the urethra is greatly- 
increased in quantify, showing the formation and bursting of an 
abscess of the prostate gland into it. 

The bladder is much thickened and diminished in size, and acutely 
or chronically inflamed. Ths desire to make water is continual, 
allowing hardly a moment of rest ; and the patient, in the agony of 
despair, prays to be relieved from his sufferings. 

Soon succeeding the irritation of the prostate, the testicles become 
involved, the disease being propagated by means of their ducts, 
which open in the urethra. The testicles swell a little, become un- 
easy and painful, and a dropsical or hardened enlargement ensues. 

Whrn the stricture forms a nearly complete obstruction to the 
passage of urine, the violent efforts of the bladder to expel it bring 
on ulceration or rupture of the urethra, through which the urine is 
forced into the cellular membrane, with all the power of a spasmo- 
dically excited bladder. 

The scrotum and neighboring parts become distended, erysipelas 
supervenes, black patches of mortification break out in different 
places, ;he febrile .symptoms are augmented, aud the patient at last 
irrecoverably sinks into a state of coma or muttering delirium, and 
death closes the scene. Such is the progress and termination of 
stricture when neglected. 

There are many provocatives to stricture, and when one mischief 
is progressing, it makes up for its slow initiating by giant strides. 
A patient may have a trifling stricture for years without experi- 
encing much inconvenience. He takes cold, fatigues himself com- 
mits some stomachic or other excess, may possibly have fever, all of 
which more or less disturb the general economy, alter the character 
of the urine, and in that manner doubly accelerate the disorganiza- 
tion going on in the urethra. A small abscess may spring up m the 
urethra, or below it among the cellular membranes and the mtegu- 
ments. In either case, it chances now and then to burst an opening 
and create a communication externally with the urinary passage, 
constituting what is called fistula. A person laboring under stricture 
is always liable to these occurrences. As much mischief is done 
oftentimes by mismanagement as by neglect. The clums\ introduc- 
tion of a bougie, or, in other instances, the unjustifiable introduction 
of one, is likely to, and very frequently does, lacerate the delicate 
and irritable membrane, and make a false passage. 



216 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

It is melancholly, notwithstanding the resisting and reparative 
power of nature to avoid so saddening a disease as stricture, that it 
is so very prevalent, and that it is occasioned by so many causes. 
Where it is not destructive to life, it is very injurious. It involves, 
where it is severe, other important organs beside the seat of its 
abiding ; the repeated calls upon the bladder, through sympathy of 
the irritation, created so near to that viscus, the efforts which at all 
times it is obliged to make, although assisted by the muscles of the 
abdomen and contiguous parts to void its contents, at last, and very 
fre queiitly end in paralysis, and total inability to pass water ensues, 
except through the aid of the catheter. Independently of which, 
where so much disease exists as in the urethra, the urine also con- 
stantly pressing against ulcerating and irritable surfaces, extrava- 
gion of that secretion takes place, and the most formidable and 
alarming consequences ensue. In the simplest form of stricture, 
man}' important functions are disturbed. A very frequeiit conse- 
quence is permanent irritability of the bladder, so that the patient is 
obliged, ten or twelve times a day, to micurate, and is unable to pass 
through the night without suffering nearly the same inconvenience. 
Besides which, the natural sensitiveness of the genital organs become 
speedily and much impaired. We are satisfied that where disorganiza- 
tion ot the testicles does not exist, and where the patient is young, 
or even middle-aged, if he be impotent, he will in nine cases out of 
ten be found to have stricture. There are exceptions, but in nearly 
all cases of impuissance there will be found, if not stricture, at least 
some morbid irritability of the urethra. During the experience ot 
stricture, there is generally a vitiated secretion from the seat of mis- 
chief, constituting a gleet ; therefore a gleet at all times should be 
regarded, lest it be an indication of something more than a mere 
weeping from enfeebled vessels. 

Before commencing the cure of stricture it is necessary for the 
patient, in all cases to communicate to us his general symptoms. 
It is unnecessary, perhaps for us to say, that the names of writers 
are kept with the most inviolable secrecy, and their cases treated in 
accordance with the requirements of an enlightened age. A certain 
and speedy cure can be accomplished by our treatment, if applica- 
tion is seasonably made. A course of medicines and full instructions 
will be forwarded for $10, 

Diseases of tlie Testicles.— The testicles, from their office 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 217 

and connexion with other structures equally as important, are liablo 
to many excitations. In gonorrhoea they are subject to sympathetic 
Inflammation, as in hernia humoralis, which, if neglected or mal. 
treated, gives rise to abscess or chronic hardness. Inflammation also 
occurs in them as in other structures. Accidents, such as blows or 
bruises, horse-riding, wearing very tight pantaloons, are all fertile 
sources of derangement. Scrofulous constitutions are predisposed 
to have their testicles, like the rest of the glands, diseased. The 
most frequent disturbance, however, of the testicles, is a dilation of 
the veins, constituting what is called varicocele ; and generally ac- 
companied by a wasting away of the testicle itself. It is rare, in- 
deed, to find perfectly healthy te sticles in an individual who has 
been exposed to amatory pleasures and sensualities ; and as, of 
course, even amative desire, as well. as amative power, depends 
upon the absolute sound condition of the glands in question, the in- 
ference is, that in very numerous persons, the sexual instinct is con- 
siderably diminished, and not unfrequently wholly suppressed, be- 
fore half the natural term of their existence has expired, at which 
time they ought in reality to be at the climax of their prime and ca- 
pability. 

It is not so much a painful complaint as an unpleasant one. There 
are occasionally pains in the back and loins, and other feelings, 
creating a sensation of lassitude and weariness ; and now and then 
some local uneasiness is felt. 

Varicocele gives to the examiner a sensation as though he were 
grasping a bundle of soft cords. It sometimes exists to such a degree 
as to resemble a rupture. In advanced stages of the disease, or dis- 
organization, the epididj-mis becomes detached from the body of the 
testicle, and is plainly distinguishable by the finger. The result of 
all is, that a considerable diminution of sexual power takes place; 
and if means are not adopted to arrest a further break-up of the 
'structure, the venereal appetite will subside altogether. 

The treatment consists in giving support by means of a suspensory 
bandage, which may be worn during the day, and the use of local 
refrigerants night and morning. The state of health is sometimes 
mixed up with it ; and tonics and generous diet are useful. The cold 
shower bath helps to brace the system. It is a complaint in which, 
if it be not of very great severity, nor very long continuance, much 
good may be done. In some instances the veins may be allowed to 



218 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

empty themsel res, which they will do when the hody is in a return, 
bent position, and a coated ivory ring, or a silken land, may be sv 
placed around them as shali prevent their refilling. It is, howevei, 
a case fitter for the surgeon's management. 

Abscess in the Testicle.— The testicle is subject to inflamma- 
tion and suppuration, like any other structure. A case about threo 
years ago fell under our notice, where a quantity of dark foetid fluid 
was released on puncturing a testicle in which the sense of fluctua- 
tion was very evident ; and the patient stated that it had been Ave or 
six years in arriving at that condition. He was wasted considera- 
bly from nocturnal perspirations and acute pain, and his sexual de- 
sire was much diminished. The case did well, and the latter func- 
tion was restored without much loss. 

Hydrocele.— Hydrocele is an accumulation of yellow serous 
fluid in the tunica vaginalis testis, or peritoneal covering of the tes- 
ticle. It is a disease incident to every period of life, but more com- 
monly met with in grown persons. The ordinary formation of 
hydrocele is unattended with pain ; and the patient accidentally 
discovers the existence of the swelling, but oftentimes not until it 
has attained a considerable magnitude. Ihe tumor, when large, 
produces an unsightly appearance, end forms a hmderance to sexual 
intercourse, from the integument? of the penis being involved 
therein, and thereby preventing a perfect erection of that organ. 
The disease may appear to originate spontaneous)}' : but is is usually 
traceable to some bruise, blow, or other external injury to the part. 

The notion that the cure of hydrocele depends on promoting ad- 
hesion to the sides of the tunica vaginalis with the testicle is some 
what upset by several preparations in the London hospitals, exhibit 
ing the tunic taken from persons in whom a radical cure wa» 
effected by injection, and in whom no fluid was reproduced : not 
were the sides of the said investment at all adherent with the testi- 
cle, but apart, as in the healthiest individual. Hitherto surgeons, 
i acting on the aforesaid notion, with a view to obliterate the cavity, 
' adopted various plans of treatment— such as, tor instance, laying 
open the entire cavity, cutting away a portion of the tunica vagina- 
lis, the application of caustic, and, lastly, the seton, as advised by 
Dr Pott, which was suffered to liberate itself by ulceration. When, 
in &ny of these instances, suppuration was induced, the cavity be- 
came in time filled up by the granulating process. 1 he plan ot the 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 219 



present day Is by perforating the sac with a strocar, suffering the 
effused fluid to escape, and injecting some stimulating liquid which 
is allowed to remain until a degree of inflammation is produced, that 
shall cause an obliteration of the cavity by pdhesion, or, as it has 
also been proved, prevent a reproduction of the fluid, by closing the 
mouths or altering the diseased action of the exhalent arteries. 
Which ever be the effect produced thereby, the cure is almost cer- 
tain, and the principles of the treatment consequently judicious. 
But, notwithstanding the operation is not always immediately, nor 
ultimately successful ; the degree of inflammation set up may be in. 
sufficient, and the effusion again take place, and the operation may 
req uire a second and third repetition ; or an excessive degree of 
inflammation may ensue, that shall occasion serious constitutional 
disturbance, either by suffering the injected fluid to remain too 
long, or its being of too stimulative a character, or from its escaping 
into the cellular membrane of the scrotum, an accident not unfre- 
quent, unless great care be used in the operation. 

Radical Cure of Hydrocele.— The term radical is applied 
to the process narrated in the last case ; but, as has been observed, 
the operation is occasionally required to be repeated several times. 
In the case we are adverting to, after tapping, several injections 
were thrown in between the tunics, and withdrawn ; and on one oc- 
casion the morbid fluid was secreted to the greatest possible disten- 
tion of the scrotum bv the following morning. Its subsequent with- 
drawal, and the injection of a more active stimulant, effected, how- 
ever, a permanent cure. In the country, surgeons frequently plunge 
a lancet in the scrotum, suffer the effused liquid to escape, and 
desire the patient merely to wrap the parts up in a handkerchief, to 
take no further heed; and to ride home : and these cases generally 
do weil. 

Hydrocele Cured by Acupuneturatioii.— A new me- 
thod of treating hydrocele has of late years been introduced, namely 
by the insertion of a needle into the sac or bladder of the testicle, 
which upon its withdrawal, permits the fluid to escape into the i 
cellular membrane, whence it is rapidly absorbed. A pint of fluid 
may be got rid of in that way in two or three hours ; and, although 
the disease may not be radically cured, it will occupy several months 
before a re accumulation of the fluid takes place. In recent cases, 
this treatment oftentimes proves permanently successful. Many 



220 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



nervous persons will not submit to anything approaching an opera- 
tion, not even to the simple one of acupuncturation. In such cases, 
there is no alternative but counter-irritants, to be applied over 
the part. A course of medicines suitable for the speedy cure of the 
foregoing complaint will be sent to a patient upon a receipt of a 
fee of $10. 

It is at all times best to attend early to any disease of the testicle ; 
the progress is so rapid, the mischief so great, and the consequences 
so deplorable, of unconsrolled disease. 

Eruptions incident to the Organs of Generation 
and the I&ectnm.— The s'ructures included in the above head- 
ing are subject to a variety of eruptions, varying in character, in- 
tensity, and duration. Thus we have the papular, a chronic inflamma- 
tion characterized by papules, or very minute pimples, of nearly the 
same color as the skin, accompanied by intense itching, and termi- 
nating, when broken by scratching, in small circular crusts : this is 
called, by dermoid pathologist, Prurigo. Another order of eruption 
is designated the vesicular and pastular, and consists of groups of 
small pimples of a very bright red color, and containing a serous 
fluid. They are accompanied by itching, which increases as the 
contained humor becomes turbid, and assumes the puriform aspect, 
they then incrustate, and at the end of about a fortnight drop off, 
leaving the skin health}'- underneath. The name given to this va- 
riety is Herpes. 

The last and most inveterate species is characterized by an itching 
of the skin, which, on inspection, appears of a suffused redness, and 
gives off, after a while, a number of thin scales ; these reaccurnu- 
late, and the entire organs of generation becomes sometimes cov- 
ered with similar patches : this is denominated Psoriasis. These 
affections, which are but various degrees of inflammation, modified 
by idiosyncrasy and habit, ari*e from local and constitutional causes. 
Among these are frequent excitation of the organs of generation; 
the contact of the fluids secreted during sexual intercourse, an un- 
healthy and relaxed condition of the genitals, and, lastly, a disor- 
dered state of the digestive organs. It is astonishing to what an ex- 
tent these disorders prevail, and more to find how long the 
Individuals, probably from a sense of diffidence in seeking profes- 
sional assistance, endure them. We have encountered many pa- 
tients who have informed us that they have had the complaint upon 



MEDICAL GUIDE, 221 



them from five to ten years, purposing during the whole of that 
period to consult some medical friend, but postponing it until their 
Interview with ourselves ; and it is ever to be regretted, as the cure 
may always be effected in a week or two, with moderate attention 
and perseverance ; but if the attempt be neglected, there is no limit- 
ing the extent to which the disease may proceed. Local diseases, 
especially of such a nature as those under consideration can not 
exist any great length of time without involving the digestive or- 
gans, which become sympathetically deranged ; and in like manner 
do local diseases participate with dyspeptic disturbances— each, 
therefore, goes on aggravating the other. 

Diseases of the Bladder.— The anatomical description of 
the bladder will be found in the earlier pages of this work. It may 
simply be restated : 

The bladder is a viscus somewhat similar in structure to the stom- 
ach. It is composed of several coats -muscular, nervous and mu- 
cus. Each arc liable to diseases peculiar to their several structures. 
The size of the bladder differs in most persons, and in the sexes. 

The female bladder is generally the largest ; but largeness is ob- 
servable more especially in females who have borne children. Tho 
proverbial ability of females to retain their urine longer than men is 
thus accounted for. 

Much mischief is often done by both sexes disobeying the particu- 
lar "call of nature" to urinate ;. and the younger branches should 
have that fact impressed upon them. We have known children ac- 
quire a severe and obstinate form of irritability of the bladder by 
retaining their urine too long. Diseases of the bladder are generally 
the consequences of other complaints, and those complaints have al- 
I ready been enumerated. They may be summed up : 

Gonorrhoea extending to the bladder, and producing absolutely a 
I clap of the bladder. If the inflammation is not subdued, or dDes 
'■ not subs de, probably some permanent mischief ensues ; at all 
events, the inflammation extends, and involves other coats than the 
interior. Accordingly, we have inflammation of the muscular 
coa-is, the nervous coats, and, lastly, the peritoneal coat. These 
terminations, severally have certain symptoms, and certain names. 

There are others, and among them may be named colds, local in- 
juries, hasmonhoids, excess in drinking particular fluids" sen>ual in- 
dulgences, diseased condition of the kidneys, or long retention or 



222 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



vitiated states of the urine, nervousness, and, la.-tly, the formation 
of stone in the bladder. The most common form of the bladdei 
ailment is irritability, which is a milder term for inflammation. 
Then we have absolutely inflammation, and, lastly, loss of power.or 
paralysis. 

Irrit ability of the Bladder.— The chief indication of dis- 
ease affecting the bladder is a frequent desire which the patient ex- 
periences to pass his water ; but that symptom alone does not de- 
termine the nature of the complaint. It may be irritable from symp; • 
thy with surrounding irritation, and disappear on the subsidence of 
that irritation. It maj r constantly be fretting the patient by its con- 
tractions, through the urine (owing to some general derangement 
in the system being altered in its chemical qualities; exciting the 
bladder the moment it is secreted therein ; or it may be the result of 
nervous agitation, with or without any actual diseased state of the 
bladder. These causes should be understood to regulate the treat- 
ment, which of cour.-e must be qualified by the provocation, and 
which the patient, when in doubt, had better leave to the discrimin- 
ation of the physician. 

Paralysis of tile Bladder.— The bladder may become, 
through loss of nervous stimulus, insensible to irritation, and con* 
sequently be disobedient to its natural functions. The urine in these 
cases, accumulates in large quantities, distend the bladder to its ut- 
most, which it does without pain ; and the excess of secretion then 
dribbles away involuntarily. This state of the bladder is called 
paralysis, and is an aggravated form of disease, arising from the 
same causes that establish inflammation, or from some contiguous 
injury. The treatment of paralysis of the bladder must be intrusted 
to experienced hands ; it consists chiefly of purgatives, stimulatives, 
enemata up the rectum, the introduction of the catheter, and cold 
bath, rest, and general medicinal nervous excitant. 

Inflammation of the Bladder.— Cases of acute inflamma- 
tion of the bladder are of rare occurrence ; but they do occur, oc- 
casionally prove fatal, and always are productive of much general 
disturbance, which yields not without vigorous and active treat- 
ment. Gonorrhoea is most usually the exciting cause. On the sud- 
den supprossion of the urethral discharge, an inflammation sympa- 
thetically seizes the testicles, the glands in the groin, or the bladder; 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 223 

and when the latter is the seat of the transference, it may he held as 
the ratio of the severity of the disease. In inflammation of the 
bladder, there is a constant desire to pass water, which, when made, 
is usually in very small quantities, and leaves a sediment. The pa. 
tient often experiences an insupportable inclination to urinate, with 
a sensation as though the bladd* r were ready to burst— whereas 
there may be little or no u ine in it. There is much pain at the 
root of the penis, and it extends along the perinceum to the rec- 
tum, which latter is assailed with almost constant spasms resemb- 
ling straining. There is considerable thirst, fever, and anxiety ; the 
pulse is full and quick, the tongue furred, and all those symptoms 
are present that prevail during severe constitutional excitement. 
The treatment consists of bleeding, leeching, or cupping; relieving 
the bowels by castor oil and injections ; mucilaginous drinks, ad- 
ministering opiates, preserving rest, and total abstinence from 
stimulating diet If these means fail in subduing the inflammation 
it runs on to ulceration, permitting extravasation of urine, occa- 
sioning mortification and death ; but where they are effectual, the 
patient is soon left free from complaint. It often happens that the 
Inflammation is not so vigorously treated, or it may be whollv neg- 
lected, and yet it may happily resolve itself without proceeding to 
the extremity narrated ; but, unfortunately, it may degenerate into 
a minor but not less troublesome form, denominated chronic, and 
which, in fact, is the disease christened "irritability " and the one, 
for obvious reason, as above stated, for which relief is most usually 
sought, the patient having in vain daily looked for the subsidence of 
his malady. Having stated that irritability of the bladder must be 
treated witn reference to its cause, it is obvious that more than non- 
medical discrimination is required. Where it depends upon strict- 
ure, the stricture must be first cured : where upon stone in the blad- 
der, the stone must be removed ; where upon sympathetic inflam- 
mation, the source must be attacked, and so on. 

However, it has ,t>een stated that ether causes may exist— that it 
may even be a primary disease in itself; and as this treatise pro- 
fesses to be a private mentor to the invalid, we will detail such 
measures as may be safely adopted for the cure of a complaint as 
often borne from being trusted to unskillful hands, as from a morbid 
delieacy in seeking proper and legitimate relief. The ordinary 
ijmptoms are, first, an inordinate desire to make water ; it flows in 



224 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



small quantities, with pain before, during, and after. The urine has 
an offensive ammoniacal odor ; it deposites a thick, adhesive mucus, 
of a gray or brown color, sometimes streaked with blood, and of 
an alkaline character. 

In this stage of affairs, rest is indispensable ; sedatives and opiatea 
ma}' be given ; but alkalies (rarely omitted in prescriptions for in- 
continence of urine) should not be indiscriminately givon, for they 
only render the urine more alkaline, which occasions it to deposite 
calcareous flakes, that, if not passed off, accumulate, unite, and lay 
the foundation of that frightful* disease, stone in the bladder. The 
extract of conium, or herbane, combined with mucilage, may be 
given in doses of three to five grains every six hours. The tincture 
of henbane, in doses of a fluid drachm, or the tincture of opium, not 
exceeding ten or fifteen drops at a time may be given in like man- 
ner, and continued for several days, keeping the bowels open with 
castor oil. The daily or alternate daily use of the hot, general, or 
hip bath, will afford immense relief. The various preparations of 
morphine, aconitine, and of hops, possesses great power in small 
and frequent doses. The uva ursi is a remedy of ancient note, and 
is often prescribed with advantage ; the dose is one scruple to a 
drachm in milk, or any bland fluid, three times a day, or it may be 
taken in infusion or decoction, one ounce to a pint of water— that 
quantity to be drank during the day. The pareria brava, exhibited 
in a decoction (by simmering three pints of water, containing half 
an ounce of the root, down to a pint), may be taken in divided dosea 
of eight or twelve ounces during the day, or in the form of extract, 
in quantity of a scruple, which equals the above amount of decoction. 

The achillce millefolioe is an excellent plant, and possesses aston- 
ishing astringent powers, often restoring the tone of the bladder to a 
healthy condition, when all other remedies have failed. A handful 
of the leaves arc to be infused in a pint of boiling water, which, 
when cool, may be poured off, and given in doses of a cupful three 
times a day. Any of the preceding sedatives may be given in con- 
junction with these preparations. 

Lime-water taken with milk, as an oidinary drink, is a useful cor- 
rective. 

The buchu (the diosma crenta)— an ounce infused fqr several hours 
in a pint of boiling water, and a wine-glass full of the cooled liquid 
administered three or four times a day—has justly obtained some 
notoriety. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 225 

Where all these means prove ineffectual, the injection of sedative 
•nd astringent applications often answers the most sanguine ex- 
pectations ; but they should be employed only by professional per- 
sons, and even then with great care ; as when the diseases has been 
at its height, and they have been used, much inconvenience, and 
even mischief, has been occasioned. A mild infus ; on of poppies, or 
weak gruel, may be thrown in, once or twice a day, in quantities not 
exceeding two or three ounces at a time, and withdrawn after being 
suffered to remain thirty or forty seconds. A catheter, with elastic 
bag, should be the instrument used. 

In the more chronic forms, where the urine does not deposite 
much mucus, or is tinged with blood, the addition often drops (very 
graduallj' increasing the quantity) of the diluted nitric acid may be 
made to the fluid ejected, repeating or declining the operation, as the 
effect^are discovered to be advantageous or prejudicial. 

In an irritable state of the bladder depending on some disease of 
the kidney, there is a frequent desire to void the urine without there 
being any, cr but very little, urine in the bladder. There is also a 
severe cutting pain felt about the neck of the bladder, especially 
after eaoh effort to make water, followed or attended by a ' : languid" 
pain in the loins. The urine is often the color of whey, at other 
times tinged with blood, and deposits, when suffered to remain a 
while, a purulent sediment. The severe symptoms should be allayed 
by the same remedies as prescribed in irritable bladder arising from 
other causes ; but the original seat of the disease in this instance de- 
mands energetic attention. The various counter-irritants are in great 
requisition ; leeches, blisters, setons, etc. 

In addition to the tonics and astringents already advised, an infu- 
sion of the wild-carrot seed, made by macerating for a couple of 
hours one ounce of the seeds bruised in a pint of boiling water 
(drinking, when cool and strained, the whole of the liquid in divided 
doses during the day), may be taken with every chance of relief. As 
in the other infusions, the patient must persevere in the u^e of this 
for some time. 

We would urgently impress upon our readers the necessity <f 
prompt and skilful treatment at an early stage of any of the foregc- 
ing diseases. A week's delay In seeking proper remedies may be 
productive of years of bodily suffering, and may indeed ruin the poor 
sufferer for the remnant of his life. Upon receipt of a written state. 



226 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



ment of the case of any one afflicted, accompanied by a fee of from 
$10 to $15, according to the nature of the malady, we will at once 
send a package of medicines with full instructions for use, continu- 
ing advice and treatment until a cure is fully effected. Address, R. 
F. YOUNG & Co., 599 Broadway, New- York. 



THE GREAT SECRET OF TAMING 
HORSED. 

Kindness, the great and only sure basis of success. The 
ruling principle in the nature of the horse is obedience to 
man, therefore to make him obey, it is unnecessary to treat 
him with violence. Disobedience is as a general thing" 
forced upon him by conduct which does violence to his 
nature. 

It is only necessary to make him fully comprehend what 
is required of him to make him obey, as he has originally 
no conception of his own strength and powers, and since it 
will be p:udent. in us to keep him in ignorance, in regard 
to his strength, we must not try to do it by force, but by 
kindness, in the horse as well as in man, fear is the result 
of ignorance; therefore, it is only necessary to accustom 
him to any object of which he may at first stand in dread, 
to make him lose the sense of fear. 

The best means of accomplishing this end, is to allow 
him to examine the dreaded object himself, in the manner 
most natural to him. The horse is an intelligent creature, 
and the only way to develop fully all his powers of useful- 
ness to man, is to treat him as such, and to convince him 
that his master is also his superior and his best friend. 

Until he is convinced of this fact, and by that conviction 
has obtained the fullest reliance upon the kind intentions 
and the superior knowledge of him who guides him, he is 
not fully educated ; that is to say, he is not perfectly 
broken in. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 227 

To break in a horse, is simply to educate him, and to 
habituate him gradually to a new condition of life ; which 
new condition, if properly imposed, he readily accepts ai 
a natural one. 

To drive a Kicking Horse. — Bend one 

fore-foot up until the hoof looks upwards, then draw a loop 
over the knee and up to the pastern joint, and secure 
it; of course he cannot kick with three legs; if he gets 
angry and tries to strike the knee on the gioun.l, sit still; 
after a time he is mastered ; then get down and take it off, 
and pet him ; this will show him that if he obeys, he will 
receive kindness — should it be necessary, resort to the same 
course several times. 

If a Skittish Horse shies at a red blanket or 
other object, throw it down in the stable, and leave him 
with it, and he will find out himself, during your absence, 
that it is harmless. 

To Saddle a Colt after you Have edu- 
cated him so as to appreciate kindness. 

— Take the saddle and tie up thestiirups; put it hefore 
his nose and let him smell it; then gently lay it on his 
neck, and move it about, occasionally taking it off; at 
length, place it in its proper situation ; then gently drop 
the girths, and very gently begin to draw on the buckles — 
the whole operation takes about an bout. Havi g got the 
saddle secured, your next object to mount him — for this 
purpose, get a high stool and place it by his side ; get upon 
it, and press with both hands, gently at first ; afte wardi 
lay the whole body across his back, and habuate him to 
feel your weight; after a short time you can mount him 
safely. 

; To make your Horse I^ie Down. — Is 

only an extension of the hampering operation. The horse's 
left fore-foot being fastened up, put a surcingle about his 
body, and which strap is passed through the srucingle, and 



228 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

held in the right hand, as you stand on the left side of ths 
animal. Then, holding the bit in the left hand, bear against 
the horse, till it moves, when the right fore-foot is raised, 
and the astonished horse comes down on his knee. N >w 
turn his head to the left, and bear against his shoulder, 
steadily, but strongly. It takes from eight to ten minuites 
to bear the animal over on his side ; but when you get him 
there, he is completely conquered. Ugly as he miy have 
been before, you can then handle him as you please. Take 
off immediately all the straps, and then caress the horse, 
rubbing him first about the head and neck, and then all 
over, paying particular attention to his heels, which you 
may handle without the least fear. Keep him thus, about 
twenty, or twenty-five minutes, and then let him up. It 
sobers a horse astonishingly to go through this course. In 
half an hour repeat the whole operation ; and so for three 
or four times. In the afternoon, the animal undergoes a 
similar course of lessons. After a couple of days it has got 
so used to the routine, that it will lie down by merely touch- 
ing its fore-foot. Throughout the whole operation, the 
whip is not once used, nothing biit soft words and 
caresses. 

To prevent Horses oeing Teased iiy 

Flies, — Boil three handfuls of walnut leaves in three 
qu'.rts of water, sponge the horse (before going out of the 
stable) between and upon the ears, neck and flank. 

To prevent BottS. — Mix a little wood-ashes with 
their drink, daily. This effectually preserves horses against 
the botts. 

Liniment for Galled Backs of Horses. 

— White lead moistened with milk. When milk cannot 
be procured, oil may be substituted. One or two ounces 
will last two months or more. 

Remedy for Strains in Horses. — Take 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 229 

whisky, one half pint; camph >r, one ounce; sharp vinejar 
one pint. Mix. Bathe the parts affected. 

Another. — Take opodeldoc, warm it, and rub the 
strained part two or three times a day. 

Lotion for Blows, Bruises, Sprains, etc, 

— One part laudanum, two parts oil origanum, four pai\s 
water ammonia, four parts oil of turpentine, four parts cam- 
phor, thirty-two parts of wine. Put them into a bottle, and 
shake them until mixed. 



CONCEPTION. 

It is well known that often after a female ceases to men- 
struate, impregnation is possible for the sixteen days after 
flow has ceased, and perhaps for th> twenty six hours be- 
fore it ceases, at all other times it is impossible. Tins arises 
from the fact that the membrane covering the orifices of the 
fal opian tubes, and lining the uterus, is ruptured or torn 
off, and it takes about that period for it to become renewed. 



VENTRILOQUISM. 

The art of ventriloquism, simply consists in a slow and 
gradual expiration, preceded by a strong and deep inspira- 
tion by which a considerable quantity of air is introduced 
into the lungs, which is-afterwards acted upon by the flexi- 
ble power of the larynx and the trachae. Any person, there- 
fore, by practice can obtain more or less expertness in this 
exercise; in which although not apparently, the voice is 
still modified by the mouth and tongue. Ventriloquists 
have acquired by practice the power of exercising the veil 
of the palate in such a manner, that, by raising or depres- 
sing it, they dilate or contract the inner nostrils. If they 



230 



THE MAGIC WAND AND 



are closely contracted, the sound produced is weak, dull, 
and seems to be more or Jess distant; if, on the contrary, 
these cavities are widely dilated, the sound is strengthened 
by these tortuous infractuosities, and the voice becomes 
loud sonoroi.s, and apparently close to us. Thus, any able 
mimic, who can with facility disguise his voice, with tho 
aid of this power of modifying sounds, may in time become 
a ventriloquist. 



FEMALE WEAKNESSES, etc. 

Diseases of Menstruation.— Though the gen- 
eral period of the commencement of menstruation is in this 
climate about fourteen years of age ; it may nevertheless, 
from particular circumstances, and in certain constitutions, 
not make its appearance for some time after that period. Pro- 
vided the health does not suffer, there is in reality no occasion 
for alarm or anxiety, although its occurrence should be la- 
t^r by a year or two in one girl than another; but it is 
difficult to persuade women themselves of this fact ; and 
they are apt to ascribe every illness or uneasy feeling which 
girls may happen to experience towards the period of pu- 
berity, to the non-appearance of this discharge. It some- 
times indeed happens, that very great sickness and loss of 
health do occur in young women who are long of menstru- 
ating ; and in the article green sickness, we shall detail the 
gymptoms and treatment of person* in that situation. The 
non-appearance of the menses also gives rise occasionally to 
cough and various other sympathetic affections ; so that 
both the patient herself and her friends and medical atten- 
dants, are always very glad when the womb assumes a 
healthy action ; and they also very properly, look forward 
to the establishment of menstruation, as affording hope ot 
relief from many ailmsnt that afflict females about the age 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 231 



at which it generally commences. Every means, therefore, 
that is consistent with prudence and propriety, ought to be 
used to bring on healthy menstruation, when it seems too 
long delayed. Of these, the best are snch as contribute to 
the general health and vigor of the system, such as a mild 
nourishing diet ; the tepid or warm bath ; gentle exercise, 
either on horseback, or on foot, etc. The bowels are to be 
particularly attended to; and purgatives are sometimes, by 
sympathy, very effectual in bringing the uretus into action; 
of these, none are more beneficial than the aloes, and the 
various pills of which aloes forms a principal ingredient. 
Symptoms must be paliated as they arise. The cough is to 
be treated, and we are to discriminate as accurately as we 
can between the cough depending upon simple irritation, 
to which young females are particularly liable, and that 
which indicates the approach of consumption ; and take our 
measure accordingly, so as not to neglect the incipient 
stage of a most serious disease, or to give too much impor- 
tance to a state of things, which if properly managed, is 
attended with very little danger. 

When the menses do begin, it may be a year or two be- 
fore they go on in a proper manner; the interval may be 
two, three or four months, the quantity variable ; and this, 
for gome time, may comport with good health, and at last 
the regular monthly period may be established. Matrons 
should pay particular attention to the conduct and manage- 
ment of their young friends at this period. Any impropri- 
ety in diet, or regimen, which at another time, might have 
passed with impunity, will now be productive of serious 
consequences, and may lay the foundation of ill health, and 
give a shock to the constitution from which it will not re- 
cover. Wet feet are to be considered as particularly dan- 
gerous ; sometimes they check the discharge altogether, 
sometimes they give rise to a copious and defoliating 
flow. 

Suppression of the Menses.— Independent 



232 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



of pregnancy, the menses may be checked or suppressed 
after their first establishment, by various causes. The most 
frequent causes of this obstruction, are told, passions of the 
mind, or diseases. We are to endeavor to bring the dis- 
charge back by remedies adapted to the particular circum- 
eumstances of each case ; varing our plan according to 
cumstances, and using means more especially about the 
time when we may expect the efforts of nature to co-oper- 
ate with our endevors. The effects produced by suppres- 
sion on the constitution are various ; in many cases it may 
give rise to fullness of blood; and relief is then only to be 
obtained by bleeding, low diet, bathing the feet in warm 
water, and moderate doses of Sulphate of M;ignnesia, or 
Epsom Salts. When accompanied with great debility, we 
must follow the same plan in obstructions, as we do in the 
non-appearance of the menses. 

In difficult cases you had better send for our regulating 
remedy. — Price, $3. 

Immoderate flow of the Menses.— A too 

copious discharge of the blood from the womb, is a fre- 
quent complaint. It may continue for a much greater num- 
ber of days than it ought to do, or its quantity may be ex- 
cessive. This is a state of menstruation very difficult to 
cure, and productive of very debiliating effects on the body. 
The countenance of the woman becomes pale and haggard ; 
there is a dark circle around the eyes, an aversion to mo- 
tion, and great susceptibility to fatigue on slight exertion. 
The stomach is out of order, the bowels are slow, the lym- 
phatic system is torpid, and symtoms of threatening drop>y 
appear. We are to order the patient to observe the utmost 
quietness ; to keep in the horizontal posture 5 we must give 
gentle laxatives, in order to prevent all straining at stool ; 
and direct some mild astrigent medicine. The diet should 
be extremely light and spare; the drinks should he toast* 
water, barley-water, or lemonade, taken cold ; and the pa- 
tient must remain at perfect rest, in a recumbant posture, 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 233 

with the hips considerably elevated. When one period of 
too copious discharge is got over, our care should be to 
prevent the next from being equally profuse. This is to be 
done by avoiding fatigue in the interval, by moderntion in 
diet, by avoiding costiveness, by losing a little blood from 
the arm if there be too great fullness, or inflammatory ten- 
dency in the system, and by a prudent use of sulphuric acid, 
and other astringents, as alum whey. A drachm of alum 
will curdle a pint of milk ; a few ounces of the whey sweet- 
ened, to render it palatable, may be taken as often as the 
stomach will bear it. 

Should the above precautions fail to have the desired 
effect, we furnish a remedy for $2. 

Difficult and Painful Menstruation.— 

A state of menstruation different from the former, consist 
in a very difficult and painful performance of that function. 
It is to be treated by fomentations to the belly, back, and 
loins ; by avoiding cold ; by giving medicines which pro- 
mote perspiration, and encouraging their operation, by 
giving diluent drinks, and keeping in bed. 

In some cases instead of a fluid discharge every month, 
there is formed a membraneous substance, which is expel- 
led with great pain, and which, when carelessly looked at, 
has the appearance of an abortion. It is of great conse- 
quence for practitioners to know this, as an innocent and 
virtuous person might be suspected unjustly. When the 
uterus has put on this irregular action, it is believed that 
the woman cannot conceive ; but there are some cases that 
show this not to hold true universally. Medicines are to 
be given to palliate pain, debility, costiveness, or any other 
urgent symptoms. 

According to our experience, painful menstruation occurs 
more commonly either m very robust, athletic females, 
when it is best remedied by bleeding at the ] eriod of its 
occurrence, by a moderate, well regulated diet in the inter- 
vals, and the occasional use of saline purgatives ; or it oc- 



234 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



curs, on the contrary, in those who lead indolent and lux- 
urious lives, when the proper remedies will be regular 
active exercise in the open air, the warm bath, frictions of 
the surface, etc. 

We have an excellent remedy. Price, $2. 

Cessation of the Menses.— The time of life 

at which this discharge ceases, differs in different women, 
but it usually does so between the age of forty-two and 
forty-six. The symptoms which occur at the period of ces- 
sation, also vary much ; in some, the discharge stops at 
once, without any disorder of the constitution ; in others, it 
returns after uncertain and irregular intervals, and in vari- 
able quantity, for months or years, before it finally stops. 
Though many women, at this period, have a great vaiiety 
of ailments, these are rather to be considered as indica- 
tions of a change occuring in the constitution, tVian as de- 
pending altogether on the diminution or absence of the dis- 
charge. They who have not enjoyed good health, they 
who have not borne children, or who have been weakened 
by frequent miscarriages, generally suffer most at this period 
of life. To others, again, who, during that parr of their 
lives, when menstruation went on regularly, had much pain, 
or were troubled with nervous disorders, the cessation of the 
discharge is an era which brings them better health than 
they ever enjoyed before. If no bad symptom occur at this 
time, there is no call for any interference by regimen, by 
evacuations, or in any other way ; but if there be symptoms 
of fullness, or tendency to feverish complaints; if there be 
headache, flushing ot the face, or of the palms of the hand*, 
with restlessness at night, pains in the loins or belly, or e- 
ruptions on different parts of the body ; such fullness must 
be brought down by spare living, proper exercise, laxative 
medicines, and occasional blood-letting, taking care not to 
create a habit of using this last evacuation. 

If the symptoms are bad, you had better write, enclosing 
$3, and a remedy will be forwarded. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 235 

Green Sicltness. — Chlorosis, or green sickness, is 
a complaint which occurs chiefly in girls about the age of 
fourteen years, and is characterized by a pale, blanched 
complexion, langor, listlessness, depraved appetite and in- 
digestion, and the non-appearance of the monthly discharge. 
It is called green sickness, from the pale, livid, and green- 
ish cast of the skin, so commonly present. 

The symptoms consist chiefly in a general sense of op- 
pression, langor, and indigestion. The langor extends 
over the whole system, and eftvcts the mind as well as the 
body ; and hence, while the appetite is feeble and capri- 
cious, and shows a desire for the most unaccountable and 
innutrient substances, as lime, chalk, etc., the mind is cap- 
ricious and variable, often pleased with trifles, and incapable 
of fixing on any serious pursuit. The heat of the skin is 
diffused irregularly, and is almost below the point of 
health ; there is, consequently, great general inactivity of 
the circulation, and particularly in the small vessels and 
extreme parts of the body. The pulse is quick, but low, 
the breathing hurried or laborious, the sleep disturbed, the 
face cold, the nostrils dry, the bowels irregular or confined, 
and the urine colorless. There is also, sometimes, an ir- 
ritable and distressing cough ; and the patient is thought 
to be on the verge of consumption, or perhaps to be running 
rapidly through its stages. Consumption, however does 
not commonly follow, nor is the disease found fatal, al- 
though it should continue, as it has done not unfrequently, 
for some years. 

The principal cause of chlorosis is indigestion occurring 
at the age of puberty, combined with a want of energy in 
the minute vessels of the womb, that prevents them fulfill- 
ing their office. Constitutional weaknesses and relaxation 
frequently disposes to green sickness ; and whatever ener- 
vates the general habit, or the stomach in particular, such 
as indulgence in heated rooms and late hours, long resi- 
dence in crowded cities, want of exercise, impure air, a 



236 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



luxurious mode of life, stimulating-, or innutricious diet, and 
constipation, may be ranked among its causes. 

The object of ueatment in this disease is, to restore the 
functions of the stomach, bowels, skin, and other organs to 
their healthy condition, by daily active exercise, pure air, a 
well-regulated diet, and cheerful society, aided by the 
warm bath, frictions on the surface, alteratives and ap- 
perients. 

The patient should take daily exercise in the open air 
particularly on horseback, resorting to change of air and 
scene as circumstances will permit. She should make 
use of light nutritive food of easy digestion, and abandon 
the use of tea, coffee, and all stimulating drinks. To rise 
from bed and to retire to rest at an early hour, morning and 
evening, are all important measures in this disease. In 
fact, the rules to be observed with respect to diet and regi- 
men, are precisely the same, as those which are laid down 
under dyspepsia. A warm bath twice or thrice a week, 
and active friction twice a day, with a flesh-brush, over 
the region of the stomach and bowels, are on no account to 
be neglected. The friction should be performed by the 
patient herself, at least night and morning, for fifteen min- 
utes each time. 

When the acidity of the stomach is very distressing to 
the patient, a teaspoonful of calcined magnesia, or a mix- 
ture of equal parts of magnesia and rhubarb, may be 
taken. 

Electricity, in the form of sparks drawn from the lower 
belly, or of slight shocks passed through it, may be resor- 
ted to in obstinate cases, and will frequently be attended 
with advantage. 

It now and then happens, that retention of the menses 
occurs in florid, full-bosomed girls, who have no mean 
share of general vigor, in which case the pulse is full and 
tense, and the pains in the head and loins very severe. The 
ordinary cause of the retention in these cases, is exposure 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 237 

to cold at the period of the menstrual disclarge; and the 
plethoric condition of. the patient will bear and require at 
the commencement the use of the lancet, and saline purga- 
tives. The warm bath should also be steadily used with a 
plain, light diet, and regular exercise. 

If the case does not yield to the above treatment, you 
had bt-tter enclose $3 for our never failing cure. 

FlOUr AlDUS, Or WlliteS. — This complaint 
consists in a discharge of a yellowish, white or greenish 
fluid from the womb and its passage. In the mildest cases, 
the discharge is mostly of a whitish color, sometimes al- 
most colorless, small in quantity, and unaccompanied with 
any soreness or uneasiness in the parts ; but in the most 
aggravated forms, it is highly offensive, and occasional 
itching, smarting, and other local symptoms of a very dis- 
tressing nature, In most cases, there is pain and weak- 
ness in the back, and a sense of general languor ; and when 
the disease is severe, and of long standing, it is generally 
associated with an unhealthy countenance, loss of appetite, 
disordered stomach, general debility, and a dry, hot skin. 

It occurs most frequently in women of delicate constitu- 
tions, or in those whose health has been greatly impaired 
by profuse evacuations, improper diet, sedentary living, 
grief, intemperance, or other causes of exhaustion. I 
sometimes, however, arises chiefly from injuries inflicted 
upon the parts themselves, in consequence of difficult la- 
bor, frequent miscarriages, a dissolute life, or other causes. 
"Women of all ages are subject to it. This disease we 
can easily cure, without inconvenience to the patient. 

Price of remedy, $3. 

Falling down of the Womb.-The prolap- 
sus or falling down of the womb, takes place in various 
degrees. The slighest degree, or first stage, has been called 
a relaxation ; greater degree, a prolapsus; and the protru- 
sion from the external parts, a procedentia. It is neces- 



238 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

sery to attend carefully to this disease, to ascertain its ex- 
istence ; as it may, if neglected, occasion bad health, and 
many uneasy sensations. The symptoms, at first, are am- 
biguous, and may proceed from other causes. The woman 
feels a weight and uneasiness about the lower part of the 
abdomen, with an irritation about the urethra and the blad- 
der ; and sometimes a tenderness in the course of the for- 
mer. A dull, dragging pain, is telt in the groins, and this 
is increased by walking, but goes off after resting, or lying 
in bed. Pains are also felt in the thighs, and very fre- 
quently in back aches. 

In the greatest degree, or procedentia. the uterus is 
forced altogether out of the body, inverting completely 
the vagina, and forming a large tumor bi ivvixr. the thighs. 
The procedenlia is attended wiih the Usual symptoms of 
prolapsus, and also with a difficulty in voiding the urine, 
tenesmus, and pain in the tumor. If the womb be long 
or frequently down, the skin of the vagina becomes hard, 
like the common integument. Sometimes the tumor in- 
flames, and indurates; and then ulceration, or sloughing, 
will take place. Procedentia of the womb may occur in 
consequence of neglecting the first stage of the disease, 
and the uterus is forced externally, with bearing-down 
pains ; or it may take place all at once, in consequence of 
exertion, or getting up too soon after delivery. It may 
i:lso occur during pregnancy, and even during parturition. 
Sometimes it is complicated with stone in the bladder, or 
with polypus in the uterus. 

Fiequent parturition, the whites, and whatever tends to 
weaken or relax the parts, may occasion prolapsus. Some- 
times a fall brings it on. When symptoms indicating pro- 
lapsus manifest themselves, we ought to examine the state 
of the womb. If it be found considerably lower down than 
it ought to be, then we must have recourse to mechanical 
means for keeping it up. A piece of sponge introduced 
into the vagina, will have this effect, or we may use a pes- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 239 



sary. Pessaries are made of wood, cork, or gum-elastic, 
of different shapes, some oval, some flat and circular, some 
like spin dies, or the figure of eight, others globular. A 
bag of elastic gum. stuffed with hair, often makes a con- 
venient pessary. Whatever be employed, it ought to be 
taken frequently out and cleansed, and at the same time, 
astringent injections may be thrown into the vagina. 

If the procedentia be large, and have been of long dura- 
tion, the reduction of the uterus may disorder the contents 
of the abdomen, producing both pain a d sickness. In 
this cms* 1 , we must enjoin strict rest in horizontal pos- 
ture. The belly should be fomented, and an anodyne ad- 
ministered. Sometimes it is necessary to take away a 
little blood ; and we must always attend to the state of the 
bladder, so as to prevent an accumulation of urine. When 
the symptoms are abated, a pessary must be introduced, 
and the woman may rise. 

If the tumor, from having been much irritated, or long 
protruded, be large, hard, inflamed, and perhaps ulcerated, 
it will be impossible to reduce it, until the swelling and 
inflammation are abated, by a recumbent posture, fomenta- 
tions, cooling applications, laxatives, and perhaps, even 
blood-letting. After some days, we may attempt the re- 
duction, and will find it useful previously to empty the 
bladder. The reduction, in general, causes for a time, 
uneasiness in the abdomen. If the womb cannot be redu- 
ced, and is much diseased, it has been proposed to exth- 
pate the tumor. This has been done, it is true, with suc- 
cess, but it is extremely dangerous ; for the bladder is apt 
to be tied by the ligature, which is put round the part; and 
the intestines fall down above the u;erus into the sac, for- 
med by the inverted vagina, they also are apt to be cut or 
constructed. 

If prolapsus be threatened, or has taken place after de- 
livery, in consequence, for instance, of getting up too soon, 
we must replace the womb, and confine the woman to a 



240 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



hoiizontal posture, till it have regained its proper size and 
weight; and this diminution may be assisted, if dilatory, 
by gentle laxatives. 

Should the above treatmeut not effect a cure, you had 
better write, state full particulars, enclosing $3. 

Inversion of the Womb, — Inversion of the 

womb implies that the inside is turned out, and in this 
manner it has passed down into the vagina. It may take 
place in different degrees. When complete, it protrudes 
out of the vagina, and exactly resembles the uterus after 
delivery, only the mouth is turned upwards, in place of 
downwards. When it is partial, the tumor is retained 
within the vagina, and the fundus only protrudes to a cer- 
tain degree, forming a firm substance, something like a 
child's head. W r hen the womb is inverted, the woman 
feels great pain, generally accompanied with a bearing- 
down effort, by which a partial inversion is sometimes 
rendered complete. The pain is obstinate and severe, the 
woman feels weak, her countenance pale, pulse feeble, and 
often imperceptible, a discharge of blood very generally 
attends vhe accident, and often is most profuse. But it s 
worthy of notice, that complete inversion sometimes is not 
accompanied with the loss of blood, whilst a very partial 
inversion may be attended with a fatal discharge. Faint- 
ing and convulsions, are not unfrequent attendants. 

Inversion may terminate in different ways. It may 
prove rapidly fatal by the loss of blood ; or it may excite 
fatal syncope, or convulsions ; or it may operate more 
slowly, by inducing inflammation or distension of the 
bladder ; or, after severe pains and expulsive efforts, the 
patient may get the better of the immediate injury, the 
womb may diminish, to its natural size, by slow degrees, 
and gives little inconvenience ; or it may discharge fetid 
matter, and gives rise to frequent debilitating discharges 
of blood ; or hectic comes on, and the patient sinks in a 
miserable manner. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 241 

If the inversion be discovered e^rly, the womb may be 
replaced. If it have protruded out of the vagina, it is, 
first of all, to be returned within it ; if it have not, we 
proceed directly to endeavor to return ir, by Cautiously 
grasping the tumor in the hand, and pushing it upwards. 
If we push directly, without compressing the tumor, we 
sometimes bring on violent bearing-down pains. These 
are occasionally attended with an increase or renewal of 
the flooding. If we succeed, we should carry the hand 
into the womb, and keep it there for some time, to excite 
its contraction. 

If the inversion has not been discovered early, it is 
more difficult, nay, sometimes impossible to reduce it ; ow- 
ing chiefly to contraction of its orifice. In such cases, it 
is not prudent to make very violent efforts, as these may 
exeite convulsions. We must in every instance alleviate 
urgent symptoms, such as fainting, retention of urine, or 
inflammation, by suitable means. 

When the womb cannot be replaced, we should at least 
return it into the vagina. We must palliate symptoms, ap- 
ply gentle astringent lotions, keep the patient easy and 
quiet, attend to the state of the bladder, suppoit the 
strength, allay irritation by opiates, and the troublesome 
bearing-down by a prop t pessary. If inflammation come 
on, we must prescribe blood-letting, laxatives, etc. In 
this way, the womb is enabled by degrees to contract to iis 
natural size, and the woman menstruates as usual, but gen- 
erally her health is delicate. 

Polypi in the Wom"fo. — Polypi in the womb oc- 
cur of various sizes and consistency; they are sometimes 
'broad and flat at their base, sometimes they have a narrow 
neck. They occasion a discharge of blood at times; but 
when small, they are not productive of much inconvenience. 
But if they become large, they give rise to symptoms both 
troublesome and dangerous. There is violent bearing-down 
pain, discharges of blood, or of fetid dark-colored matter 



242 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



from the vagina, pain or difficulty of making water, irrita- 
tion of the rectum, and a frequent desire to go to btool. If 
the disease be not relieved, the pains become more violent, 
the constitution is affected, and the continual discharge 
greatly weakens the patient. 

As the patients tht-mselves can not distinguish tumors 
from other dis ^ases producing similar symptoms, their ex- 
istence must be ascertained by the examination of a prac- 
titioner; and their removal effected by a surgical^ opera- 
tion, either by the knife by ligature, performed by a sur- 
geon well acquainted with the structure and connexions of 
the parts. No internal remedies do any good till the tumor 
is removed. When this is accomplished, the general 
health is to be improved by proper diet and tonic medi- 
cines. 

Inflammation of the Womb appears to be 

a very common affection, and though frequently produc- 
tive of very distressing consequences, is often misunder- 
stood, arid consequently mismanaged. This aff-ction is 
frequently the result of difficult labors, but often aiises from 
excess in other indulgences — sometimes from rheumatic 
and gouty irritation, a translation of erysipelas, or obstruc- 
tions in monthly evacuations. This inflammation sometimes 
occurs in a periodical manner particularly when t arises 
from a translation of erysipelas, and females who do not 
nurse their own children are much more subject to this dis- 
ease ; chronic inflammation sometimes affects the whole 
body of the womb, but much more frequently it is seated 
in the neck or mouth of this organ. Many fern des afflic- 
ted in this way either mistake their complaint o •• conceal 
it, or from the slightness of their sufferings neglect it, until 
serious chronic disease occurs and the consequences are 
often disastrous. Some experience only a sense of heat, 
with slight soreness in the parts, others complain of dull or 
lacerating pains in the womb, at intervals heLter, and at 
other times worse. In some cases a sense of weight is fell 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 243 

as if the womb had fallen, with pains in the upp^r part of 
the vagina, in almost all there is a discharge ot some kind 
— often Leuc arhoea or whites, which is more abundant 
when the inflammation is aggravated. Those affected in 
this way are apt 'o experience much pain in the upper part 
of the vagina, during congugal embrace, and sometimes 
the mouth of the womb is so tender as to cause extreme 
suffering — one side of the womb being mote swollen than 
the other, renders it very tender ; so great is the sensibility 
of this pait in s me, that they experience severe suffering 
from the s ightest touch. In general the mouth of the 
womb is turned from its natural position to one side. If the 
disease lias been of long standing, the swelling of the neck 
of the womb is so great as to form a large lump in the 
vagina; more or less pain in the back and loins occurs in 
nearly ail cases, and the stomach usually sympathizes with 
the womb, so as to give rise to a train of very harassing 
dyspeptic and nervous symptoms. In some cases the in- 
flammation continues for some time without any serious 
structural disorder of the womb, but in many s»*es the neck 
of the organ gradually enlarge-, becomes indurated or 
scirrhous, and finally terminates in ulceration, cancer 
or death, and many cases that are usually regarded as sim- 
ple Whites, are connected with chronic inflammation of the 
womb, which i3 about three or four inches np the vagina in 
the h«u'thy state, but not so high up in the diseased state. 
The existence of inflammation and swelling of this part, 
may be suspected when the lady has a dischaige accompan- 
ied with heat, weight, soreness, or in the upper part of the 
vagina. 

A remedy for these painful diseases has long been a 
desideratum with the medical world, and that remedy has 
at last been found by great research. These diseases can 
now be radically cured — not by trusses, supporters, braces, 
pessaries, etc., upon which thousands of dollars have been 
expended in vain — but by a harmless compound, which the 



244 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



patient can apply herself without the least inconvenience ; 
(and this is certainly important to a sensitive female.) 

This remedy will act almost like magic upon being ap- 
plied to the inflamed or tender portions, and will remove 
entirely without a single failure, both the pain and inflam- 
mation in from tvtonty-four to forty-eight hours, and in a 
very short time cure the leucorrhcea and prolapsus, if used 
as instructed on labels. The number of ladies who have 
been cured by this great discovery, are too numerous to 
mention, and the subject is of course too delicate to request 
certificates. 

The soothing, prompt and pleasant effect upon the whole 
nervous system as well as upon the parts affected produced 
even after the first application is truly miraculous, and it is 
astonishing to witness the great gratitude and indebtedness 
expressed by some ladies for their deliverance from such 
annoyances; and we can assure all females, who may pur- 
chance read these lines, that if they suffer any longer with 
womb diseases, or anything of the kind, that it is their own 
fault, as they have a chance to procure the only remedy 
actually worth using, and one we have proved satisfactorily 
in a long and studious practice among them. 

We would further observe, that it is utterly impossible 
to cure these diseases by internal or constitutional treat- 
ment; it has been tried long enough; it has baffled the 
skill and ingenuity of the ablest pract doners, and the prac- 
tice has and ever will be abortive ; the treatment must be 
local to be scientific — upon the same principle that local 
application to an inflamed eye for instance, will remove the 
disease almost immediately — much sooner and much more 
effectually, and with more comfort to the patient, than to 
be physiced until the whole nervous system is destroyed. 

Those diseases incident to oil classes of the weaker and 
better sex, have now, under Providence a conqueror. This 
new remedy acts in the most soothing manner (as we be- 
fore mentioned), upon the worn out nervous system — 
generally as well a9 locally ; will allay the inflammation 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 245 

like magic — thereby inducing the lateral ligaments which 
support the womb to contr ict, bringing the organ up to its 
healthy position — curing all discharges — all of those dis- 
tressing complaints in the train of Prolapsus Uteri such as 
leucorrhcea and whites, tenderness, pain in the back, hips, 
a weighty or bearing down sensation, so often complained 
of — again, bringing nature completely in her proper chan- 
nels, allowing the lady once more to stand straight or 
erect, as in her former health. 

This course will include remedies for all afflictions of the 
womb and female weaknesses. 

Our correspondence is perfectly sacred, and the'efore 
no lady need have any hesitation in addressing us on any 
and every point relating to their case. We positively 
guarantee that the above Course of Medicine will effect a 
Complete Cure. Address, Dr. R. F. YOUNG & Co., 
No. 599 Broadway, New-York. 



SCROFULA ; OR KING'S EVIL. 

Origin— Nature— Treatment. 

The term " Scrofula" is of Greek origin u Scrofa" signifying a 
"sow," so named because the swine is said to be subject to a similar 
disease. In other words, scrofula may be considered as importing 
swine-evil, swine-swelling, or a peculiar kind of morbid tumors to 
which swine are subject. The disease also often occurs in the horse, 
and is known by the name of farcy. Indeed the disease called glan- 
ders is known to consist in tubercular affections of the mucus mem- 
brane of the nostrils. Stall-fed cows, or those kept in cities and fed 
on garbage and the swill refuse of distilleries likewise, are sure to 
become affected with scrofula. 

All animals kept confined and fed upon improper or unwholesome 
food are more or less subject to the loathsome disorder, man being 
probably more subject to it than any of the lower aninals. 



24$ THE MAGIC WAND AND 

There is a prevalent prejudice against the use of swine's flesh as an 
irticle of food— the hog being considered acrosfula breeding animal 
on account of its filthy habits and disgusting mode of feeding. 
Doubtless this has much to do with engendering the disease, not only 
in the swine itself, but must contribute to insure a scrofulous diathe- 
sis in those persons who partake of its flesh as an article of diet. The 
hog nevertheless, if cleanly kept, in properly prepared and venti- 
lated pens, and fed on corn and other wholesome food, so far from 
becoming scrofulous, will afford animal food of the most valuable 
and nutricious character, the fatty portion, especially, being highly 
advantageous in all cases of Consumption or Tuberculosis, as afford- 
ing that caloric or heat to the system so often required by the inva- 
lid suffering from these diseases. The Jews and Turks seem to be 
privileged to entertain their antipathy to pork as an article of food, 
but enlightened science must refute any such Fallacy of the Faculty 
as will ignore the article as a very essential element in the ordinary 
dietetics of the human being. We should no more eat diseased pork, 
than we should use the milk or flesh of the bovine animal kept in a 
city in a closely confined stall and fed on the slops of kitchens and 
distilleries. It is the fashion among epicures to feed on geese, ducks 
and other fowls, after being gorged with food, till their livers are 
rendered diseased and tuburculated, yet we have never heard of any 
especial mischief resulting therefrom, except that incident to glut- 
tony, as obesity, etc. Without doubt, all animals properly fed, will 
afford suitable food to the human creature, if used in connection 
with vegetable matter, fruits and farinaceous substances. The Chi- 
nese and Japanese eat rats, mice, snails, and other creatures that are 
utterly obnoxious to a Christianized palate, while the French consid- 
er a fricasse of frogs a very favorite appetizing delicacy ! Chacun a 
son gout? It is not the use of any kind of animal food, but the abuse 
of it, which induces disease or constitutional evils. In sooth the meat 
of healthy swine is no more to be discarded than the flesh of cattle 
generally— beeves, sheep, etc. There can be no question that the 
milk of the swill-fed cows is the chief cause of the scrofulous affec- 
tions and excessive mortality among children between one and five 
years of age, in all large cities. Such fatal consequences from bad 
milk, however, is no argument against the use of pure milk. So be- 
cause the hog is sometimes fed on unwholsome food, that is no rea- 
son why the flesh of healthy swine is injurious to the human econo- 
my. Indeed, there are abundant facts to prove the contrary. Pork 



247 MEDICAL GUIDE. 



Is the staple article of food in the armies and naviesr of all civilized 
nations. It is in fact a stamina of diet that is not likely ever to be 
dispensed with, until man shall obtain a more sublimated or ethcrial- 
ized state of existence than the one he is now compelled to maintain. 
Besides, it is not true that the use of pork as food is a chief cause of 
scrofula. The contrary is the fact. In many countries, where hog's 
flesh is not eaten at all, as in Switzerland, Savoy, etc., Scrofula is 
exceedinglj' common among the inhabitants. If we are to brieve 
the illustrious Badoloque, bad food generally, and above all. La tly 
ventilated houses or sleeping chambers, are the ma ; n cause of this 
distressing disorder. It is indeed high time that old errors were ex- 
ploded, and medical and hygenic views presented, is in strict accord- 
ance with modern physical researches and demonstrable patho ogi- 
cal and hygienic facts. To return from this digression. 

Scrofula has also been called the " King's Evil" from the ancient 
custom of submitting patients to the royal touch. It was so denomi- 
iiated in the time of Edward the Confessor, the first who attempted 
to cure it by a touch of his royal finger. From a register kept in the 
royal chapel, we find that Charles II. touched 97,107 persons in a car- 
tain number of years. Did all these persons derive the scrofulous 
taunt from eating the flesh of swine? There is a vulgar superstition 
yet extant in some portions of the United Siates, that " the seventh 
son of a seventh son," possesses th.s miraculous power of curing 
scrofulous affections, by the mere touch of his finger to the neck of 
the helpless patient ! 

Scrofula is a disease that appears in every variety of form and de- 
gree of violence, from an enlarged gland of the neck, axilae (arm- 
pits; groin, white swelling of the knee, hip-joint disease (morbus 
coxarius) to diseased mesenteric glands, indurated liver, tubercu- 
lated lungs, and the most loathsome ulcers. 

The authors of this work would make a wide distinction between 
Pulmonary and Tubercular Consumption— but if they are really one 
and the same disease, then a very large proportion, about one sixth 
of the entire human family, die of scrofula. 

Scrofula depends upon a peculiar depraved condition of the solids 
and fluids of the system. This is very evident from Dubois' analysis 
of the blood of scrofulous persons. It manifests itself by a gradual 
enlargement of the lymphatic glands, especially of the neck, which 
becomes the seat in most, if not all cases, of a deposition of tuber. 



248 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



culous matter. It first appears in hard indolent tumors behind the 
ears and under the chin, and also in the glands ot various parts of 
the body. After a iime, the tumors supporate and degenerate into 
ulcers, from w ich instead of pus, a white curd-like fluid resembling 
the coagulum of milk is discharged. Not unfrequently the eyes, the 
mucus glands of the nose, and tonsils, become affected ; and even the 
joints and bones, in some cases, yield to the influence of the disease. 

When examined under the microscope, the blood is found to co- 
aijulate slowly ; the clot is small, soft and different, while the serum 
(water) is thin and often of a red color. Some of the corpuscles ap- 
pear devoid of color at the edges only, but, generally they are en- 
tirely colorless, which is conclusive evidence of a deficiency of solid 
constituents, extractive matter and salts, in the body. 

Dr. Abercrombie well describes the anatomical and pathological 
changes which takes place in the lymphatic glands of this disease- 
He observes : " In the first state ot enlargement, these glands pre- 
sent, when cut into, a pale flesh color, and a uniform, soft, fleshy 
texture. As the disease advances, the texture becomes firmer, and 
the color rather paler. In what may be regarded the next stage, we 
observe portions that have lost the flesh-color and have acquired a 
kind of transparency, and a texture approaching that of soft cartil- 
lage. While these changes are going on, we generally observe in 
other specimens the commencement of the opaque, white structure, 
which seems to be the last step In the morbid changes, and is strictly 
analogous in its appearance and properties, to the white tubercle of 
the lungs. In a mass of considerable size, we can sometimes observe 
all these structures often in alternate strata ; some of the strata be- 
ing composed of the opaque with matter, others presenting the 
same pelucid appearance, while in other parts of the same mass, 
portions which retain the fleshy appearance. In the most advanced 
stage, the opaque, white or ash-colored tubercular matter is the 
most abundaut ; and this afterwards appears to be gradually soften 
ed, until it degenerates into the soft cheesj matter, or ill-conditioned 
suppuration so familiar to us in affections of this Hature." 

Those predisposed to scrofula have generally a delicate and Ian 
gUid countenance, a delicate, rosy tint of the cheeks and lips, par 
ticularly if a tendency to Phtisis Pulinonalis (Consumption.) exists.oi 
a pale, soft, flaccid and timid-appearing countenance and upper lip 
a large head, inflammed eye-lids, variable appetite, and weakened 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 249 

dlsgestive organs, with mucus diarrhoea, or a constipate ? state of the 
bowels. In females, leucorrhoeal discharges are prone to occur, and 
in young children excoriations behind the ears, scabby eruptions on 
the lips, face and head, with a fretful irritable temper. The glands 
about the neck become enlarged, and firm to the touch ; the joints 
are unusually large, while the intellect appears prematurely devel- 
oped, and the growth of the body is slow. As the disease advances, 
the -alivary glands and the internal glandular parts, such as the 
liver, pancreas and spleen, become enlarged and indurated ; the 
bones necrosed, and the cartilaginous covering ulcerated ; the large 
joints swell and ulcerate, as we observe in white swelling of the 
knee and in hip-joint diseases. 

The disease most commonly occurs between the age of two or three 
years and puberty ; oftenest under seven years ot age. It rarely 
occurs as a first attack after the indvidual has grown to adult ma- 
turity. Scrofula may be hereditary or acquired. It is probably 
more frequently acquired than inherited 1 In fact we have no posi- 
tive evidence that the disease is hereditary. It often appears in 
families, whose predecessors, as far as can be traced, have never 
had a vestige of the disorder. Children born of Scrofulous parents 
are not invariably affected with the scrofulous diseases ; and some 
times one child has some strumous affection while the parents and 
the rest of the family have no appearance of Scrofula. 

There are many diseases usually recognized to be of a scrofulous 
character. Among these may be mentioned— 

1st.— The inflammatiou and suppuration of the glands about the 
neck, before mentioned, and which sometimes heal, leaving seams 
and scars, which in some cases resemble those following a scald or 
burn. 

2.— Tubercular disease of the lungs, or pulmonary consumption, 
and tubercular disease generally. 

3.— Opthalmia, or inflammation of the eyes, when of a peculiarly 
obstinate character. 

4.— Otorrhcea, or a purulent discharge of offensive character from 
the ear, the meatus auditorias externus being particularly affected. 

5.— Ulcerations of the mucus membranes of the nose, mouth, 
throat, etc. 

6.- Chronic inflammation of the synorial membranes and othei 



250 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

parts composing the joints, "white swelling being a familiar form of 
this species of disease. 

It may be remarked in this connection that Scrofulous children 
are more subject to worms than others. They are also very liable 
to nervous affections and insanity. 

Another effect ot the disease is to produce abortion. In other 
■words the scrofulous foetus is not unfrequently so feeble, that the 
vital processes in the womb cannot go on healthfully ; as a conse- 
quence the embryo is expelled. The fault if such we call it— may 
be either on the father's or the mother's side, or both. 

Some writers make out almost every morbid taint of the system 
to consist of the Scrofula. Thus we have Scrofulous swellings of 
the glands of the neck, Scrofulous opthalmia, white swellings, mor- 
bus coxarias, or hip joint disease, lumbar abscess, or Psoas abscess, 
tabes mesentrica, or Scrofulous disease of the mesenteric glands, 
scorbutus or scurvy, bronchole or goitre, rachitis or rickets, pavou- 
chia or whitlow or felon, authrag or carbuncle, furnunculous, or 
boils, sycosis, or warts and ulcers generally, carcinoma— caxcinus 
or cancer not excepted. This application of the term Scrofulous, 
appear to us entirely too extensive for any practical purposes. No 
doubt all these disorders here named arise from the same great 
primary cause of a deficiency of the solid constituents, extractive 
matters and salts of the system, nevertheless the remedies employed 
to cure, are required to be specifically as well as constitutionally ad- 
ministered, according to the peculiar diathesis of every individual 
patient 

The affection is often joined with some other such as rickets, spinal 
disease, etc. It is very apt, where a predisposition to it exists, to fol- 
low severe fevers and eruptive diseases, such as typhus, small-pox, 
measles, scarlatina, yaws, etc. Syphilis is also not unfrequently its 
forerunner. Severe grief, and other mental troubles such as the loss 
of property may bring it on suddenly. 

The causes of Scrofula indeed are very numerous. It is however 
essentially a disease of weak vascular action, or, in other words, of 
debility. Hence, any agency which has a tendency to induce this 
state of the system, is liable to induce an attack. Extreme heat and 
cold, especially, when occurring in irregular vicissitudes,are power- 
ful disponents of the disease. Extreme heat being a relaxing and 
debilitating agent is particularly unfavorable in regard to Scrofula. 



251 MEDICAL GUIDE. 



The causes which have been most known to be concerned in the pro 
duction of Scrofula, or its predisposition are, the influences ot 
climate, especially observed where the atmosphere is low, humid, 
and variable ; impure confined air, deficient and unwholesome food, 
It may be fairly asserted, also, that the pernicious use of mercury. 
has produced more cases of Scrofula, in every variety of form— from 
indurated glands, to necrosed bones, foul ulcers, swellings of the 
joints, and Consumption, than all other causes combined. Mercury 
never fails to insinuate itself into every fibre, and by its affinity for 
the calcareous part, destroys the affinily existing among the ultimate 
constituents, and emphatically proves the solvent to a perfect de- 
composition of the human organism. 

Another cause demanding attention, is the introduction of impure 
vaccine virus in inoculation against small-pox. This has not only 
produced Scrofula where it did not previously exist, but has caused 
other diseases far more loathsome than that which it was intended 
to shield the system against. Many a fair child has thus been ruined, 
which fact certainly urges upon us, in the strongest possible terms, 
the necessity of exercising the closest scrutiny in regard to the con. 
stitutional predisposition of those from whom the virus is taken. 

In regard to the treatment of Scrofula, nothing very definite has 
been laid down by physicians. It is usually considered incurable, 
and therefore very little efforts have been made to discover remedial 
agents likely to ensure a cure. This apathy or indifference is worthy 
of the severest reprehension. The fact is, the worst form of scrofula 
is curable, under proper treatment. The process of amelioration, or 
cure, however, is one of extreme care, patience and time— the time 
being usually from six months to a year. 

Patients should remember that Scrofula is a chrcnic disease and 

f inveterate character. It can never be rapidly cured. If it can 
be cured by a long and persevering use of the appropriate meas- 
ures, the patient ought to be thankful fcr the success. 

In treating scrofula, four particular states of the disease must be 
kept in view. 

1st. A state of inflammation. 2d. A state of abscess or ulcer. 3d. 
A state of tumor or scirrhus. 4th. A state of constitutional affec- 
tion. 

As a matter of course the medicines should cover not only the con- 
stitutional diathesis, but the local disorder. 



252 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



For this purpose, after many years of close observation and prac- 
tical experience, the authors have made such discoveries in the thera- 
peutic properties of certain hitherto unknown plants, as to enable 
them to prepare medicines that have never yet tailed to effect per- 
manent and radical cures in the most intracticable cases in a few 
months. We can produce at least a thousand instances of such 
eases, recorded in our "Case Book," The "course of treatment," 
embraces a series of medicines, each one package destined to effect 
a certain specific action, on the part or organ particularly affected. 
They are accompanied by full and explicit directions for their use 
individually and generally. Each course is intended to last two 
months, the various medicines embraced in the same, being furnish- 
ed on receipt of $18. In some instances, one course of medicine is 
sufficient to effect a permanent cure. The medicines are pleasant to 
take, and eminently recuperative in their general operation. Per- 
sons afflicted, desiring these infallible courses, should expressly 
state all the particulars of the disorder, together with age, sex, tem- 
perments, employments, etc., in order that the medicines may be 
put up to suit the especial case. No attention will be paid to orders 
unaccompanied by the cash, $18 for each course. The remedies are 
put up in neat boxes or packages, and promptly forwarded to all 
parts of the United States, agreeably to order. Address, Dr. R. F. 
YOUNG k Co., No. 599 Broadway, New York. 



ORIGIN OF VARIOUS PLANTS. 

Wheat was brought from the central table land of Thibet, 
where its representative yet exists as a grass, with small 
mealy seeds. 

Rye exists wild in Siberia. 

Oats wild in North Africa. 

Barley exists in the mountains of Himalaya. 

Milet, one species is a native of India, another of Egypt 
and Abyssinia* 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 253 

Canary seeds from the Canary Islands. 

Rice from South Africa, whence it was taken to India, 
and thence to Europe and America. 

Peas are of unknown origin. 

Lentil grows wild on the shores of the Mediteranean. 

Vetches are the natives of Germany. 

Chick pea was brought from the South of Europe. 

The Garden Bean from the East Indies. 

The Horse Bean from the Caspian Sea. 

Buckwheat came originally from Siberia and Tartary. 

Rape seed and Cabbage grow wild in Sicily and Naples. 

The Poppy was brought from the East. 

The Sunflower from Peru. 

The Lupine from the Levant. 

Flax, or Linseed is in Southern Europe a weed in tho 
ordinary grain crops. 

Hemp is a native of Persia and the East Indies. 

The Garden Cress out of Egypt and the East. 

The Zealand Flax and Syrian Swallow show their origin 
by their names. 

The Nettle, which sometimes furnishes fibers of spinning, 
| is a native of Europe. 

Wood is a native of Europe. 

Madder came from the East. 

Dyer's weed grows in Southern Germany. 

Safflower came from E^ypt. 

Dill is an Eastern plant. 

Hops came to perfection as a wild plant in Germany. 

Mustard and Carraway seed the same. 



254 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

Anise was brought from Egypt and the Grecian Archi- 
pelago. 

Coriander grows wild near the Mediteranean. 

Saffron came from the Levant. 

The Onion out of Egypt. 

Chickory grows wild in Germany. 

Tobacco is a native of Virginia and Tobago ; another 
species has also been found wild in Asia. 

Fuller's Teasel grows wild in southern Europe. 

Lucerne is a native of Sicily. 

Spuiry is a European plant. 

The Gourd is probably an Eastern plant. 

The Potato is a well known native of Peru and Mexico. 

The Jerusalem Artichoke is a. Brazilian plant. 

Turnips and Mangold Wurzel came from the shores of 
the Mediteranean. 

Kohlrabi and White turnips are natives of Germany. 

The Carrot is by some supposed to have been brought 
from Asia, but others maintain it to be a native of the same 
country as the Turnip. 

The Parsnip is supposed to be a native of the same place. 

Spinnach is attributed to Arabia. 

White Millet to Greece. 

The Raddish to China and Japan. 

The Cucumber to the East Indies. 

Parsley grows in Sardinia. 

Tarragon in Central Asia. 

Celery in Germany. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 255 



OF TREES AND SHRUBS. 

The Currant and Gooseberry came from southern Eu 
rope. 

The Pear and Apple are likewise European plants. 

Ti e Cherry, Plum, Olive and Almond, came from Asia 
Minor. 

The Mulberry Tree from Persia. 

The Walnut and Peach from the same country. 

The Quince from the Island of Crete. 

The Citron from Media. 

The Chestnut from Italy. 

The Pine is a native of America. 

Horse Chestnut from Thibet. 

The Whortleberry is a native of both Asia and Europe. 

The Cranberry of Europe and America. 



Dropsical Diseases* 



Character, Variety, Peculiarities, Symptoms, 
Causes, Treatment, etc., etc.— New Remedial Dis- 
coveries. 

Hydrops, or Dropsy is a disease which arises from a peculiar 
diathesis of the human system, and one which has baffled the science 
of th*s most skillful physician in the application of remedial or 
curative agencies. A lack of a proper diagnosis and an imperfect 
acquaintance with the pathology of the disease, are the chief causes 
why so many physicians fail in its treatment— insuring only increased 
Buffering to the patient by their bungling manipulations and barbar- 
ous remedies, if they do hurry then: to an untimely grave. 



256 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



The term Hydrops, Cor dropsy) is from a Greek word meaning 
water. Dropsy, accordingly, implies a preternatural collection of 
serous or watery fluid in the cellular membrane or substance in the 
organs, or different cavities of the body, impeding or preventing the 
functions of life. In other words, Dropsy consists in a "pale and 
inelastic distension of the body and its members from accumulation 
of a watery fluid in natural cavities." The disease may be either 
cellula, or it may effect the head, spine, chest, belly, evary, Fall- 
opian tube, womb, or scrotum. Hence, it receives different appela- 
tions according to the particular situation or location of the fluid in 
the body, or parts in which it is lodged. When it is deposited in the 
eranium (sfcull) or brain, it is termed hydrocephalus ; when in the 
chest, it is called hydrothorax, or hydropspectoris ; when in the 
cavity of the abdomen, it is denominated asciles; when in the uterus, 
hydrometra ; in the scrotum, (the bags which contains the testicles) 
it is called hydrocele ; in the ovaries or ovariam, hydrops ovarii or 
ascites ovarii ; in the joints, hydrops articuli ; in the knee, hydrops 
genu, and when generally diffused through the cellular membrane it 
is called anasarca. 

Cellular Dropsy, is characterized by "a cold and diffusive intumes- 
cence of the skin, pitting beneath the pressure of the fingers." An- 
asarca ("cellular dropsy) from the Greek words signifying through 
and flesh, is a form of dropsy, consisting in a*morbid collection of 
serous fluid beneath the subcutaneous cellular tissue, and generally 
diffused throughout the entire body. It is usually classed into five 
varieties, viz :— Anasarca serosa, anasarca opitata, anasarca exan- 
thematica, and anasarca debiliasm, so named simply from their 
specific causes. There are really but three varieties of this disease: 
General Dropsy— anasarca— which, as before stated, extends through 
the cellular membrane of the body ; adema, limited to the swelling 
of the limbs, chiefly of the feet and ankles, and mostly appearing in 
the evening ; and dyspnetic dropsy, consisting of adematous swell- 
ing of the feet, stiftness and numbness of the joints ; the swelling 
rapidly extending to the belly,with some and almost fatal dyspneoea, 
or shortness of breath, or difficulty in breathing. Ordinarily, before 
dropsy becomes general, it shows itself in the lower limbs, and bo 
fore death (in fatal cases) the respiration is peculiarly difficult, -form 
ing one of the most distressing symptoms of the disease. The form 
of it known as anasarca, is common to all ages, though most fre 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 257 

quently found in advanced life. It generally commences with swell- 
ing of the lower extremities : First the feet and ankles are observed 
to be swollen towards the evening ; but it yields to the recumbent 
position of the night, leaving no trace or very little of the swelling 
or rising from the bed in the morning. The tumefaction or swelling 
Is rather soft and inelastic, and retains, for a time a mark or pitting, 
after pressure by the fingers. Gradually the swelling increases, be- 
comes permanent, ascending higher and higher, till not only the 
thigh and hips, but the trunk of the body, becomes affected, while 
the face and eyelids are surcharged, appear full and bloated ; the 
complexion meanwhile instead of exhibiting the rudddy hue of 
health becoming sallow and waxy. A general inactivity now per- 
vades all the organs, and, by consequence, all their respective func- 
tions. At this stage, the pulse is slow, often oppressed and always 
inelastic ; the respiration is troublesome and wheezy, and accom- 
panied with a cough that bring up a little delicate mucus, which af- 
fords no relief to the sense of weight and oppression ; or the expec- 
toration may be a watery fluid. The urine is scanty, very high col- 
ored, and usually deposits a reddish or pink-like sediment, although 
iu some instances it is of a pale whey color. These symptoms are 
accompanied by insatiable thirst, a dry and harsh state of the skin, 
and costiveness. The appetite fails, the muscles become weak and 
flaccid, and the general frame emaciated. Frequently the water 
oozes out through the pores of the skin, sometimes, indeed, water 
is seen issuing from abrasions and fissures in the skin, caused by an 
actual bursting from the pressure of the effused skin, while it often 
raises or elevates the cuticle in the form of small biisters. A sort of 
perpetual fever often attends the disease. Exertion of every kind 
is a fatigue, and the mind partaking of the habitude of the body, en- 
gages in study with reluctance, and is overpowered with drowsi- 
ness and stupor. Local anasarca may be produced by what impedes 
the free return of blood by the veins; as pressure from the indurated 
glands, and obstructions from tight bandages and ligatures ; but gen- 
erally anasarca or dropsy depends upon causes which act more gen- 
erally ; such as organic disease of the heart and kidneys, particu- 
larly that form of degeneracy, known as ''Bright's disease." De- 
bility is the great predisposing cause of this form of the disorder, 
whether from excessive losses by hemorrhage (loss of bloodjor other- 
wise. Fevers of various kinds, severe exposure to cold, refilled cu- 



258 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



taneous eruptions, suppressed habitual discharges, obstructed meti- 
ses, gout, cancer, scrofula, disturbance of the uterine functions, and 
disease of some internal organ seem to induce Anasarca or cellular 
dropsy. It frequently occurs in the latter stages of diabetes, pul- 
monary consumption, etc.— the symptoms under such circumstances 
commencing slowly, and, as it were, imperceptibly. It occasionally 
follows scarlet fever, while the phenomena is sometimes observed 
as a sequel of measles, small-pox and erysipelas. 

The first cause of every species of dropsy, no doubt, exists in the 
Kidneys, in consequence of their ceasing to perform their office, or 
failing to secrete or excrete the urine. When this is the case, the 
urine is retained or re-absorbed, and consequently taken into the cir- 
culating mass. The exhalents then pour it out in greater quantities 
than the absorbents can take up ; thus the serous or watery effusion, 
and a collection follow, which we call Dropsy. Tn fact, a dimina- 
tion of urine is a characteristic symptom of Anasarca. Hence, that 
diuretic, or medicine, which will safely stimulate the kidneys to a 
healthy action, or cause them to secrete or seperate the urine from 
the blood, could scarcely fail to relieve or cure the disease. 

It is proper here to remark that general dropsy often rises from 
excess in the use of spirituous liquors, while drug medicaments, 
particularly the injudicious use of Mercury, Arsenic and Sulphur, 
given for other diseases, often induce and excessively aggravate 
general dropsy. 

The treatment of Dropsy has been extremely varied among phy- 
sicians, scarcely any two agreeing in the theory or nature or origin 
of the terrible disorder. One school or class of medical men will 
give aconite, lachesis, mercurials, arsenicum, sulphur, cantharides, 
digitalis, etc., which not only serve no useful purpose, but positively 
aggravate and complicate the disease, rendering cure impossible and 
speedy death certain. 

Another barbarous method of removing the fluid in dropsy of the 
lower limbs, is that of making minute punctures in the skin with a 
needle 1 " By making minute punctures in the skin," observes Dr. 
Elliotson, " an immense quantity of water may be drawn away !"— 
Thitis doubtless the fact. When the needle is withdrawn, a bead of 
clear serum (water; will appear, and the oozing continue for some- 
time. Twenty or thirty punctures are sometimes made at one 
sitting, without the physician seeming to be aware that serious re- 
sults are nearly certain to follow. However minute such punctu r ei 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 259 

may be, patients have often lost their lives through them, gangrene 
following as a natural result of such irrational puncturing of the 
cuticle. 

Water has been employed to cure dropsy, but a3 a matter of course 
without success. Tt is not in the nature of water to expel water.— 
The idea is about as ridiculous as to suppose that a drowned man 
should be brought to life by being more drowned I 

In respect to Hydrocephalus, or hydrops capitis, dropsy of the 
head, dropsy of the brain, or water in the head, it is a disease that t 
mostly belong to children, although it often commences in adult age. 
It is both external and internal. It is often found at birth, the head 
ot the child b ing so enarged as to prove a serious hindrance to de- 
livery. Frovn four to eight pounds of water have been often drawn 
from the head of the child after its birth. In some adults the head 
has measured thirty three inches in circumference aud contained 
ten pints of water. The causes of Hydrocephalus, are doubtless the 
same as those which produce anasarca or general dropsy, perhaps 
aggravated by the improper dietic and other habits in which child- 
bearin \ women are so apt to indulge. As a mattei of course the ad- 
ministration of drills, or drastic purges in such cases is a desperate 
expedient, as futile as dangerous, while the usual diarest cs have 
always proved more injurious than useful. Dropsy of the spine, 
spina bifida, may be known by a soft, fluctuating exuberance on the 
spine, with gaping vertebrae. It is most fatal. There have been 
oases by opening the tumor and drawing off the fluid, but the opera- 
t on usually hastens death. 

Hydrothor ax.— Hydrops Thoracis or Dropsy of the chest, is 
characterized by a sense of oppression in the che«t, dyspnoea or 
shortness of breath on the slightest exertion ; the countenance is 
lurid ; the urine red and sparse ; the pulse is irregular ; there are 
palpitations and startlings during sleep, with edematous or swelled 
extremities. Hydrothorax is usually an accompaniment of anasarca, 
or general dropsy, and requires the same general treatment. It is 
i usually found among persons of advanced years. It is often sudden- 
, ly fatal, cutting the patient oxt by spasms, either while awake or 
asleep. It is often connected with organic disease of the heart. Its 
causes are the same as those of general dropsy. 

In the treatment of Dropsy of the chest, when all other remedies 
fail a recourse is had to tapping. It is an operation only to be en- 



260 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

trusted only to the most experienced surgeons. It is a dernier expe 
dient, at best, and amounts, in fact, to murdering a person to put him 
out of misery. Tapping rarely proves successful. The surgeon who 
resorts to it should be held guilty of premeditated homicide, and 
punished for manslaughter or " murder in the second degree." In 
any case, it amounts to mal-practice, worthy of the most serious re- 
prehension. 

Dropsy of the Belly (Hydrops Abdominis) also called ascites, 
includes three species : the atonic, preceded by general debility of 
the constitution ; the parabysmic, induced by some affection of one 
or more of the abdominal organs ; and the metastic, arising from re- 
pelled gout, rheumatism, or some skin disease. The fluid is contained 
either in the affected organs, or in the cavity of the abdomen. It 
has sometimes been mistaken for pregnancy, while pregnancy has 
Often been disguised under the pretense of dropsy. The two have 
sometimes occurred together, thus deceiving the oldest physicians 
and putting science to the blush. Many laughable cases have occur- 
red showing the stupidity and egregious blundering in the diagnosis 
by physicians of " acknowledged experience," the wise acre escu- 
lapians mistaking ascites, or the swelling of the abdomen for ovarian 
tumor I Physicians have not unfrequently been suddenly called to 
a patient suffering in great agony, and supposed to be dying, after 
being treated for ovarian dropsy, to find her delivered of a healthy 
Child, and the tumor entirely vanished ! 

The other forms of dropsy— ovarian dropsy, dropsy of the Fallo- 
pian Tube, dropsy of the womb, dropsy of the scrotum, wind dropsy, 
are diseases of the respective local parts, requiring the same general 
treatment as anasarca or general cellular dropsy, with such modica- 
tion of or, additional medicines, as will have a direct or specific 
effect upon the particular organ. 

There is another disease closely allied to general dropsy which de- 
serves to be mentioned in this connection. We mean obesity. 

When obesity is not very excessive, it rather adds to the beauty of 
the individual. In some parts of Asia, young women are regularly 
fattened for marriage, a practice the opposite to that pursued among 
the Coman ladies, who starve their damsels for the purpose of mak- 
ing them lean as possible on such occasions. 

Obesity is usually considered a condition of good health, when 
in fact, especially if excessive, it is a state of positive disease. Fat 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 261 

persons are liable at any moment to outbreaks of some violent mal- 
ady, which is more apt to go hard with the person than if he were 
lean. They are also more liable than others to bowel complaints.— 
Adipose (fatty) matter encumbers the body by its weight, hinder* 
the natural and healthful play of the various vital functions and 
processes, and is, therefc re, in all respects objectionable. Fat is the 
basis of all tumors and growths of the eteatomatous kind. It con- 
tains the sebacic acid, which acts on many of the metals, such as 
lead, copper, iron, etc., with a peculiar effect 

We must not be understood to say that no fat whatever is to be in 
a healthy body. In a true physiological state there is always a 
small amount of such matter, but so small in the human body as to 
amount to but little compared with the whole weight. The fat of 
the human frame usually averages about the twentieth part of the 
whole ; it has sometimes amounted to a half or even to four-fifths.— 
Persons are frequently found weighing four, five and six hundred 
pounds. The celebrated Lambert, of Leicester, died in his fortieth 
year weighing seven hundred and thirty-nine pounds. The "Jack 
Falstaff" of Shakespeare, was even more bulky, his weight being 
eight hundred pounds bulk, if indeed that " doughty individual was 
not really a "myth." The " Philosphical Transactions" furnishes 
a case of a girl four years old, who weighed two hundred and forty- 
six pounds. There are many cases of obesity equally extraordinary 
on record. Excessive fatness is a cause of impoteney in males and 
of sterility or barreness in females ! 

In general, excessive eating and drinking, in connection with a too 
indolent life, are the causes of this evil of obesity er fatness. 

The cure of obesity is extremely difficult. It is supposed to de- 
pend upon an abstinance of food, liquors, etc., little, short of starva- 
tion, accompanied by excessive exercise, etc. Some have resorted 
to the drinking of vinegar and strong acids, without a knowledge of 
the extreme mischief they were doing to the organism. It is related 
of a Spanish General, who was of great size, that he drank vinegar 
so much that he was able to fold his skin around his body. Such a 
practice is most pernicious to the digestive organs, and is certain to 
eventuate in excruciable suffering, and a tormenting death Drug 
medication or drastic depletives or evacuations, only tends to the 
irretrievable ruin of the constitution of the luckless individual. 

Our plan of treatment of all forms of dropsy and obewty, is radi- 



262 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



cally different from any other ever yet pursued. It should be re- 
membered that as dropsy is a disease of debility, the plan of evacua- 
tion, will never effect a cure, except in very recent cases, when but 
little inroad has been made upon the cons itution. In these attempts 
to mitigate an evil, greater one's are sure to follow. Indeed every 
purgative seems only to add to the general disease. 

To effect radical cure, invigorating medicines must be employed. 
Strength must be imparted to the constitution, and the organs 
brought to a natural performance of their functions. Indeed a total 
removal of the water affords only a palliative, and a present or 
temporary relief. 

It is plainly apparent that a course of wnercury, or mineral treat- 
ment, will only tend to the aggravation of dropsical affections, liter- 
ally adding horrors upon horrors. We repeat, the disease can only 
be cured by a diuretic which will restore the kidneys to their normal 
or natural condition, causing the urine to flow freely, and thus drain- 
ing the system, of its morbid serous or watery accumulations. The 
first object in every kind of dropsy, should be to evacuate the water 
and afterwards to prevent its re-accumulation. Most of the diapho- 
retic infusions, heretofore employed, such as of sage, hyssop, mint, 
catnip, spearmint, with steamings over decoctions of tansy, hoar- 
hound, hops, etc., with emetic powders, cathartics of julap, cream of 
tartar, or the use of hydragogue tinctures, are really useless, for they 
never effect a cure, except in cases of recent disorder, where nature 
has recuperative power sufficient to expel morbid accumulations 
and promote a spontaneous cure. Indian hemp, milk-weed, dande- 
lion roots, etc., alsp, hare but a limited effect, if really any percep- 
tible one, m the amelioration or indication of dropsical affections. 
Fox-glove and euphobia, ippecacuanha, and the use of Holland Gin, 
rarely do any good, they are most certain to aggravate the disease, if 
they do not render cure next to an impossibility. 

Under such circumstances, the writers have spent many weary days 
and many sleepless nights to understand the philosophy of this pe- 
culiar disorder, with a vi»w to devise some remedy which would 
have some specific action on the kidneys, and tend to the permanent 
cure of the various forms of dropsy, being satisfied that the seat and 
origin of the whole Is traceable to the one fountain source— that of 
the uterine organs. 
Happening, at length, to visit the Republic of Paraguay, in 1848, 



263 MEDICAL GUIDE. 

the writers became acquainted with the celebrated trareler Francis 
del Castelnau, (a French savant, set out to South America, Brazil, 
Bolivia, etc., to explore the valley of the Amazon, etc., b3 T Louis 
Philippe,) and also with E. A. Hopkins, Esq., U. S. Consul at Para- 
guay, at the time. From these gentlemen they obtained much valua- 
ble information respecting the country, and the mineral and vegeta- 
ble products. Acccording to Mr. Hopkins, " Paraguay is but another 
Paradise." This the authors of this work found to be eminently the 
fact. We speak with the greatest certainty from our own knowledge. 
Divided by the Tropic of Capricorn, the surface of the country is 
like a chess board, chequered here and there with beautiful pastures 
and magnificent forests. Beginning with the head waters of Para- 
guay, on the Brazilian side, the productions are gold and precious 
stones, sugar, molasses, hides and horns of extraordinary size, hair, 
tallow, wax, deer and tiger skins, with rice, corn, and the different 
manufactures of the mandioca root. In Bolivia are found gold and 
precious stones, silver, coffee, (equal to Mocha) and Peruvian bark. 

Besides these, of medicinal herbs, the valley yields in great profu- 
sion rhubarb, sarsaparilla, jalap, bezonia, indica, sassafras, holy- 
wood, dragon's blood, balsam of copabia, liquorice and ginger. Here 
too, are found dye stuffs df the short exquisite tints, including cochi- 
neal, two kinds of indigo, a vegetable vermilion, saffron, golden rod, 
with other plants, producing all the tints of dark red, black and green. 

Among sixty varieties of timber, valuable for ship-building or for 
cabinet work, is the " Leibo tree," which when green, is spongy 
and soft as cork, and can be cut like an apple, but when dry is so 
hard as almost to defy the action of steel. Then there is the Palo de 
vivora, or " snake tree," whose leaves are an infalliable cure for the 
poisonous bite of serpent?. There are likewise the Palo de leche, or 
milk tree, literally a "vegetable cow," yielding a delicious and nu- 
tritive fluid, and the Palo de Borracho, or drunken tree, a vegetable 
distillery. 

Manv of the trees yield gums and drugs of the rarest virtues, and 
of the most exquisite perfume, as yet unknown to pharmacy or the 
mechanic arts. " They comprise," says Hopkins, (see Bulletin of the 
American Geographical and Statistical Society, Vol. I. memoir on 
Paraguay, by E. A. Hopkins, Esq., U. S. Consul;, "some of the most 
delicious perfumes and incense that can be imagined. Others again 
are like amber, hard, bitter and insoluble in water. Seme cedars 



264 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



yield a gum equal to gum arabic ; others a natural glue, which, 
when once dried, is unaffected by wet or dampness." 

The icica resin is found at the roots of trees under ground, and is a 
natural pitch, ready prepared to fay the seams of vessels. In these 
wilds also are found, side by side, with the India-rubber tree, the 
vanilla, with its sweet-scented bean, and the Palo santo, from which 
the gum guaicum of our commerce is gathered. Wild, too, in these 
wonderful forests, grow, mature, aud decay annually and in large 
quantities, two or three kinds of hemp ; the nux seponica, or soap- 
nut the coca, yerba, matte, of superior quality, two kinds of cotton 
with vegetable oils, and wax in vast quantities. 

It was here that Dr. Waddell, the botanist, saw the micaya with Its 
elegant foliage, the fruit of which was described by the Indians to be 
of an oblong form, and to contain a natural confectionary of which 
they are very fond. 

In the city Cayaba, they get also a drug from the Amazon called 
guarana, of which the consumption is enormous, and to which medi« 
cinal virtues the most astonishing are ascribed. In addition to all 
these advantages, the climate is exceedingly delightful and salubri- 
ous, many of the inhabitants reaching the age of one hundred years. 

When the authors arrived in Paraguay, they were accompanied 
E>y a friend who had been afflicted with anasarca, or general cellula- 
dropsy for many years, his weight from obesity, etc., being upwards 
of three hundred and fifty pounds. He soon made the acquaintance 
of a native Indian doctor, or medicine man, who promptly set about 
curing him, which he did within a few weeks, reducing his bulk more 
than ane-half of its dropsical condition, to his normal weight o/ 
about one hundred and sixty pounds, *at which point it has since re- 
mained, the indieations of the watery effusions being kept down by 
the occasional use of a medicine prepared by the authors, after ob- 
taining a knowledge of the medical proportion of curious plants, 
roots and flowers, gums, etc., from the said native Paraguyan doc- 
tor. The authors have, since their return to the United States, in 1850, 
tested the efficacy of their remedies in all forms of dropsy, with in- 
fallible success. Hence they have been induced to enter into the 
preparation of a medicine expressly for general dropsical affections, 
and now regularly import the various articles from Paraguay, and 
manufacture the remedies agreeably to the original fomula of the 
Paraguay chief, with certain improvements, which enables them to 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 265 

guarantee a cure in every case, whether of dropsy or excessive fat 
ness, however inveterate, where the patient is willing to undergo a 
full course of treatment, which is one of a pleasant character, unat- 
tended with pain or inconvenience. 

Persons accordingly suffering from any form of dropsy, or obesity, 
have only to describe the kind of disease, or its location in the sys- 
tem, to receive a course of medicine expressly adapted to the indi- 
vidual case. Radical cures are effected in from two to six months. 
The various medicines, comprising " a course," are accompanied by 
full and explicit directions for use. The price of each course is $20, 
which must invariably accompany the order for the remedies. 



Develoment of the Human Breast. 
Cotton and Padding of the Human 

Breast Superseded, — There is nothing in the world 
which makes a lady look so womanly and attractive as a 
well developed breast. A very large breast is not gener- 
ally to be desired, but on a well-shaped woman, a symet- 
rical, neat and beautifully-shaped breast is altogether win- 
ning, natural and lovely. How many thousands of Ltdies 
are there who suffer in this respect, and resort to all sort of 
appliances to obtain an "appearance " in that respect, when, 
by the use of an " easy, certain, and natural " means the 
desired end can be peramnently arrived at in a few weeks. 
We have an easy, pleasant and natural " means," which 
we can send by mail, prepaid to any address, with full in- 
structions, that will "permanently" enlarge the human 
breast to any required size, shape or form. And not only 
may the human breast be so enlarged but any other mem- 
ber or organ of the human body. 

This preparation is put in beautiful octagon boxes. Its 
effect, when applied externally to the parts, gradually pro- 



266 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



duces a permanent enlargement, of a healthy, solid and of 
a durable nature*. 

Price of this preparation is five dollars, sent by mail, and 
warranted to accomplish all that we promise. One pre- 
paration, such as we send, would last a long time, and an- 
swer for several persons. 



FITS OR CONVULSIONS, SPASMS. 

Variety, Nature, Causes, Treatment, etc. 

The term Fits or Convulsions is usually applied to all 
kind of nervous affections, inducing spasmodic affections, 
such as epilepsy, hysteria, etc. 

In treating of fits, we have in view not only those con- 
vulsions which often occur in children and young people, 
and sometimes in adults, and which assumes no specific 
character, but those which are clearly defined as muscular 
and nervous affections. First of, 

Epilepsy, or Falling Sickness. The name of this 
disease is derived from a Greek word, signifying, sudden 
attack^ or to seize upon. The Romans called it morbus comi- 
tialisj because of the violence of the passion to which the 
Roman people were accustomed to be worked up in their 
popular assemblies, when addressed by demagogues and 
others often proved the exciting cause of an t pileptic at- 
tack. In such cases it was called a bad omen, and the 
meeting was at once disolved on account of it. In England, 
similar attacks have been known to occur in highly excited 
public gatherings, in which case it has been called the 
electioneering disease. We have surely electioneering dem- 
agogism enough in the United States, but we do not heat 
of people being struck down from such a cause. It, how 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 267 



ever, has often been observed as the result of religious ex- 
citement, at Camp-mpetings, revivals, etc. The disease is 
also called the Falling Sickness, because the patient sud- 
denly foils when seized with it. It consists of clonic convul- 
sions, wiih stupor, with spasmodic twitchings of I lie mus- 
cles of the face and frothing of the mouth. It is divided 
by Culleu into as many distinct varieties as there are 
common causes capable of producing the peculiar disorder. 
The Jews, it would seem, ascribed this disease to the 
influence of demons. In the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 
XVII, and 15th verse, we read ' There came to him a cer- 
tain man, kneeling down to him and saying : * Lord, have 
mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic, and sore vexed; for 
oftentimes he falleth into the fire, and oft' into the water' 
And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him ; 
and the child was cured from that very hour." This pas- 
sage is supposed to refer to the disease in question. 

The fits in some cases, are very numerous at first ; but 
gradually become less frequent. The more unfrequent, 
however, the more severe they are apt to be. In some in- 
stances, fifteen or twenty fits occur in a day at first. Some 
have only a few fits, when they pass away never to return. 
Sometimes only a single fit i9 experienced. When the 
attacks are very frequent, it is considered a bad omen. 
There is usually but one fit at a time, although they arc 
frequently experienced in quick succession. The disease 
has occasionally lasted two or three days, with but little or 
no remission. It sometimes returns regularly at stated 
times — with the revolution of the morning or the evening. 
The learned Dr. Good, supposes that the disease may have 
observed lunations, or have been influenced by the phazes 
of the moon. 

Diagnosis* — The attack frequently comes on with- 
out any premonitory symptom or assignable cause. Gen- 
erally, however, there are certain symptoms pieceeding 
the paroxysms, such as a peculiarly confused state of the 



268 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



head, giddiness, dimness of sight vertigo, sounds, and 
singing in the ears, periodical oppression, restlessness, 
starting during sleep, confused mind, difficult articulation 
and a change in the morn I disposition just previous to the 
attack ; some evincing timidity, while others are spiteful, 
resentful and mischievious. Spasmodic twitches of the 
muscles of the face sometimes appear a few seconds pre 
cedeing the attack. 

Some Epileptics are always warned of the approach o 
an attack by a peculiar sent-ation termed the " aura epilep- 
tica" which is compared by patients to the sensation pro- 
duced by a current of air or water running from the feet 
and legs, and gradually ascending until it reaches the head, 
when the patient becomes insensible and the convulsions 
set in ; others have a premonitory warning symptom, aimu- 
lar to a fright or shock. In some cases, a specie of some 
sort is seen just as the fit is going to come on. Dk. Gre- 
gory tells of a patient who, before the fit, always saw.a 
little old woman come out of a corner with a stick, and 
when she approached struck him, he fell down, in a parox- 
ysm. Of course this was a menial delusion of the moment 
only. 

If the patient is sitting or standing, when the attack oc- 
curs, he suddenly falls, becomes perfectly insensible, and 
is more or less convulsed ; the eyes roll, lips and eye-. ids 
are convulsed ; the face nearly distorted ; the tongue fre- 
quently thrust out of the mouth, and severely bittei by the 
gnashing of the teeth ; the thumbs are pressed in upon the 
hands, and the whole frame is violently agitated ; the face 
is generally livid, attended with a congested state of the 
vessels of the neck ; the heart beats violently and the res- 
parition is much oppressed. This condition lasts for an 
indefinite period, from a few seconds to half or three quar- 
ters of an hour, when the spasms begin to abate, the breath- 
ing becomes freer, th pulse fuller and more regular, and 
the patient appears to be in a stupor or sleep, in which he 



MEDICAL GUIDE. • 269 



remains for sometime, and generally awakens from it in a 
confused and torpid state of mind. The spasms are clonic 
(moving- to and fro) spasmodic, tinkling, distorting, and 
thereby differ from tonic cramping, tetanic spasms. The 
countenance is ghastly and pale; sometimes yellow or a, 
bluish red. Sometimes the urine and feces are discharged 
involuntarily — the urine most frequently, occasionally there 
is a discharge of semen, without an erection. 

In epilepsy, as in several other nervous diseases, such as 
hysteria, St. Vitus' dance, and paralysis, one side usually 
becomes more affected than the other — generally the 
left side. 

Persons are not supposed to suffer fain during the at- 
tack. At least they do not remember to have suffered. 
Persons in general do not suffer when they are hung. 
Lord Bacon gives an account of a person who was hung, 
and all but killed, who yet declared that he did not suffei 
in the least. The poet Cowper, according to his own state 
ment, attempted three times to commit suicide, once by 
hanging. In this he bungled the business. He suspended 
himself over the door in the Temple, and becoming insen- 
sible, his weight caused him to drop to the floor, where he 
was found and afterwards restored. He declared that his 
experiment caused him no pain whatever. In struggling 
the brain becomes terribiy congested, much more so than 
in the epileptic fit. Hence there is no reason to suppose 
that no pain is felt under such circumstances. 

Causes^ etc* — The existing causes of epilepsy are 
numerous. Among these, fright and sudden emotions of 
the mind, are conspicuous. Parents have often made their 
children epileptic by frightening them, a barbarism that 
ought to be treated as a penitentiary offense. Overloading 
the stomach, and other debaucheries induce the disease, by 
carrying partial congestion of the brain. Arsenic and other 
corrosive and medicines, give rise to it. Constipation, 
worms, and other disorders of the stomach and bowels fre- 



270 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



qtiently act as the exciting cause. The use of Tobacco, is 
the chief cause of Epilepsy. Inheritance is also a cause. 
| No one afflicted with the disease should ever think of be- 
I coming a p Trent if he or she would avoid perpetuating- the 
lamentable disease. The form of the head has much to do 
with the disorder, especially i. there is a deficiency in the 
cerebral mass. Some epileptics, however, have u well de* 
veloped brain. Age has an influence in causing- epilepsy. 
It is very apt in occur at the time of puberty. It is more 
common among males than females, except in young- chil- 
dren and infants. Celibacy predisposes to the disease. 
Solitary vice, or masturbation of the sexual organs, is a 
primary canse of Epilepsy. The disorder is a bar upon 
marriage. Patients are often unmarried because they are 
epileptic, instead of being epileptic because they are mar- 
ried. It is sometimes acquired by sympathy or irritation. 
In this way it has been known to run through a boarding- 
school or hospital. One of the peculiarities of the disease, 
is that the patient is apt to be troubled with a most vora- 
cious appetite. Fits in children and o:hers usually pio- 
ceed from some acrid matter in the stomach and intestines, 
such as drugs, and various kinds of poisons, or from fla'u- 
lence, teething, worms, recession of some kinds of rash, or 
the retreating of an eruptic disease, such as scarlet fever or 
scarlatina, small-pox; sudden emotions of the mind, such 
as fear, anger, etc. It also arises from teething, pregnan- 
cy, etc. 

There are numerous nervous disorders more or less allied 
to Epilepsy, such as Chorea, St. Vitus' Dance, Convul- 
sions in children, Puerperal convulsions, Catalepsy, Ectasy, 
Trance, Hysteric, Delirium Tremens, Drunken Firs, Syn- 
cope, or Fainting Fits, etc., all of which are to be treated 
according to the specific disease and symptoms peculiar to 
each. 

Treatment. — In the treatment of Epilepsy and all 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 271 

lch dred diseases, it is important to inquire into the state of 
the natural functions, appetite, digestion and nutrition ; 
also into the secretions and excretions; and lastly, if the* 
patient be a female, into the functions of the uterus, par 
ticularly as regards menstruation ; for it is utterly impossi- 
ble to treat this disease successfully without first directing 
the remedy to the primary local focus of irritation wherever 
it may be situated. 

In respect to diet and regimen ; if the patient he of a 
full habit, the diet ought to be restricted both jo quantity 
and quality. In debilitated subjects it must be generous 
and nutritious. The exercise should be moderate, and 
anything attending to excitement strictly avoided. As a 
general rule, epileptics had better restrict themselves as 
much as possible to vegetable and farinaceous food. 

The question is often asked can Epilepsy be cured. 
Medical records would say that it is an incurable disorder! 
Cures have doubtless been effected by the spontaneous 
efforts of nature, but we have no decisive proof th -it they 
have ever been achieved by the " old school" practice of 
drug medication. About a century ago, stramonian was 
esteemed a specific for this intractable disaase. This rem- 
edy at the present day, is discarded as utterly worthies, if 
not positively pernicious or ag^ravative of the malady. 
Counter irritation has also been often employed in cases of 
Epilepsy. It is ascertained that an accidental burn, has 
answered the purpose of a surgical escharotie, and fortu- 
nately proved a radical cure. It is not likely, however, 
that any sensible patients would be willing to have a run- 
ning sore made upon any part of his body, whether with a 
hot iron, caustic, potash, or the concentrated mineral acids, 
even if the barbarous experiment should promptly efiect a 
cure. The fact is, blisters, tartar emetic, and the like sub- 
stances that are absorbed into the system, ae liable to 
cause irremediable mischief, sometimes even more terrible 
than Epilepsy itself. Epilepsy, like all other nervous wis- 



272 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

eases, is one of debility. How, then, in the name of com- 
mon uense, can drugs be used tofortifythegeneraIhealr.il? 
The thing- is impossible. In some cases, perhaps, Epi- 
lepsy may have been cured by a poison, on the principle of 
creating a new disease. Arsenic may have cured obstinate . 
skin diseases, but then it must have been with a sad havoc 
of the viscera generally. It would be like robbing Peter 
to pay Paul. The patient would be better off with his 
original disease. 

When the attack is sudden and violent, it is usual to put 
the patient in a warm bath, or if this cannot be readily 
prepared, to immerse the feet in warm water, and rub the 
stomach with capsicum and spirits, simmered a few minu- 
tes together. If there is time, an injection or clyster is 
also given. These appliances, perhaps, are all well enough 
in their way, but are no guarantee against a return of the 
malady. If the disease arises from acid or foul matter in 
the stomach an emetic is given ; but like the employment 
of stramonium, hyoscyamus, tincture of oj>ium, etc., and 
poisons, only give temporary benefit, if they do not create 
a new disease, and still farther complicate the original 
malady. 

Thanks, however, to progressive medical science, these 
difficulties in the case o\ •& permanent cure of Epilepsy rnd 
kindred diseases, no longer exist. Remedies of recent 
discovery are now available, not only to prevent an attack 
of Epilepsy in persons predisposed to the disease, but to 
break up the most inveterate symptoms, and radically 
cure, in a very short time, cases that have baffled the skid 
of the mo3t eminent physicians for years. The remedies 
are a tonic and recuperative character, strengthening the 
nervous system and at the same time cleansing the stomach, 
bowels, and viscera generally, and thus speedily removing 
all acrid or morbid accumulations from the system. They 
are easy of administration, and can be given during the fit, 
or convulsion, or in the intervals, as a nullifyer of the 






MEDICAL GUIDE. 273 

rpasm? , an^ as a safeguard against oft-repeated attacks urv 
t'l the disease is entirely le.noved, by the gradual recovery 
o\ the constitution to a natural or nominal condition of 
health and vigor. 

The ivmedy embraces in its ingredients a variety of her- 
bal productions, eminently servicnble in nervous, gastric 
and bilious derangements, so skilfully prepared, as to be 
adapted to any particular case or peculiar idiosyncracy o; 
condition of the patient. Persons afflicted with Epilepsy, 
or an\ kindred disorder, have only to state the full particu- 
lars of their Case — giving the age, sex, temperaments, 
habits, kind of firs or convulsions, how long standing, etc., 
inherited or acquired, etc., to receive a course of medicine 
calculated to effect a speedy and effectual cure. Perma- 
nent cures may be anticipated in every case, where the pa- 
tient faithfully takes the remidy, and implicity obeys the 
directions in respect to diet, exercise, etc. The pric » of a 
course of the medicines, with full directions, etc., is ten 
dollars, which must accompany the order, and which med- 
icines will immediately forwarded by express, or otherwise, 
as may be directed. 



Private Diseases Prevented. 



We have the French and German Sheath, or Condams, also the 
patented Gutta Percha Condams, all of which are made of the very 
best material, and stronger than hemp or silk. We warrant these to 
last for years, if carefully used. The price is $1 each, or three for 
$2, or $7 per doistn. We send them in a letter, free. We'can furnish 
a cheap kind at $2 per dozen, but they are worthless. We have 
another kind, a beautiful article, made from silk and the entrails 
of a fish. They are softer than the whitest down, or silk velvet, and 
of immense durability. We send them in a letter, by mail, to any 
adiress, at $2 each. The pleasures of sexual intercourse may thus 



274 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

be enjoyed without fear of disease, or danger of pregnancy. A very 
large and liberal discount to dealers. 



The Liver and its Diseases. 



Anatomical Stricture and Functions of the Idver, 
and its associate organ. Diseases— causes—treat* 
me nt, etc. 

The liver, perhaps, is the most important organ of the whole hu- 
man organism. 

Without the proper exercise of its legitimate functions, food could 
not be digested, nor blood be found, which is the most essential ele- 
ment of fall animal existences. This great truth does not rest on 
mere inferential authority. The fact is most explicitly and une- 
quivocally declared in the pages of Holy Writ. " For the blood is 
the life." Deut. xii. 23. " In the life of the flesh is in the blood."— 
Levit. xvii. 11. "For the life of all flesh is the blood thereof." 
Levit. xvii. 14. " He shall pour out their blood, for it is the life of all 
flesh," Levit. xvii. 13, 14. 

Not only does the Bible declare that the " life of the flesh is in the 
blood, and is the blood," but Physiology and Chemistry establish the 
fact without contradiction. The blood assisted, by air, food, light, 
warmth, and exercise, is thus proven to be the fountain source of 
human and all other animal existences. The elaboration of blood is 
very peculiar. There are many processes to be undergone before 
this vital is fit to enter the general circulation, thus ensuring health, 
strength and beauty of the creature. We know that the food when 
taken into the stomach is subject to a process of digest on (see arti- 
cle on dyspepsia), which converts the nourishing part «>f it into a 
milky fluid called chyle, this being the basis of the black or venous 
blood. This blood often undergoing certain measurably filtering pro- 
cesses is then pushed through the veins in a dark and heavy stream, 
into the right side of the heart, when it is again forced, by minute 
ramifications into every part of the lungs. In this wonderful la- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 275 



bratory of the lungs, its character is totally chained. The carbonic 
acid gas, with which it has become loaded, is thrown off, and atmos- 
pheric air r ceived to supply its place. Under the influence of their 
•xygen or vital air, communicated by the air vessels of the lungs, 
tie blood now becomes of a bright red or vermillion color, and pas- 
ting through the left side of the heart, is fitted to feed, nourish and 
gustaiu the various parts and organs of the body, the same being 
transmute.! to them by means of the arteries and their capillaries.— 
Thus, the gastric and pancreatic juices ; the milk ; the sebacic acid ; 
the bile ; the urine ; the prussic, zoonic, formic a»d bombic acids ; 
the hard pars of animals ; the humors of the eye, cartilages ; brain . 
synovia ; te£»rs ; mucus of the nose ; corumer of the ears ; saliva ; 
pus ; semen sweat ; liquor anmii ; eggs ; hair ; feathers ; silk, and 
all other secretions, spring from this common fountain. In fact, 
there is not a fibre of the body of which blood is not a component 
and highly important part Hence the quantity and quality of the 
blood have a very material influence in engendering disease or en- 
suring the good health of the general organism. This fact must be 
palpable to the commonest understanding. It is evident that all 
poisonous impurities in the circulating medium tend directly to 
plant the seeds of death and disease in the human system. Hence 
health cannot fully be enjoyed unless the blood is kept in a rich and 
uncorruptt d state. Thus the necessity of pure blood to give health, 
beaut}', long life and happines is apparent. 

It is not too much to assert that more than one-half of the human 
race on the globe are afflicted with evils arising from derangement 
of the liver and impurities of the blood. Consumption, scrofula, 
trysipelas, cancers and tumors, salt rheum ; heart, liver and lung 
affections ; spinal disease, debility, fits, kidney and womb affections ; 
insanity, physical and mental infirmities, and disease of other 
kinds, carrying of millions of people every year, including a pre- 
ponderating number of young children, all arise from impurities of 
the blood. 

The biood, is in fact, the very balsamia essence of animal exist- 
ence. Xo human being ever had a drop of it to spare I It was never 
made to be spiled ! As a matter of course, the destruction of human 
life at the hands of legalized mankillers, by bleeding, has been a 
heavy and heedless tax on health and population. The lancet has 
destroyed more lives than the sword I The physician who pursues 



276 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



the abominable practice of phlebotomy, should be regarded as a 
murdering quack, worthy of the execration of all humanity and de- 
serving of punishment by hanging on the gallows ? Surely, if the 
voices of the victims of quackery who have been slain by the stiDg- 
ing lancet could be heard in concert, the very earth would quiver 
and reel beneath the shriek of " Murder ! Murder !" 

Thus showing the necessity of good, sweet, and wholesome blood, 
to ensure buoyant health, beauty and longevity, we may now at- 
tempt to give some idea of the structure and functions of the liver 
and the kindred organs, by which blood is engendered and circula- 
ted throughout the entire animal economy. 

The Liiver and Its Associate Organs.— The liver is the 
largest organ in the human body. Its color is a deep red. It is 
situated beneath the ribs on the right side, the left lobe extending 
considerably to the left side over the stomach. Its upper surface is 
convex and smooth, the lower concave and uneven. It is thick and 
massy on the right side, and thin on the other, being bountifully 
supplied with blood vessels, nerves, and absorbents. 

The peculiar office of the liver is to prepare and secrete the bile. 
It also serves as a filter to separate impurities and refine the blood. 

The gall-bladder is an indispensible adjunct of the liver, being at- 
tached to its under side. It is shaped like a shot-pouch, and con- 
tains between one and two ounces of gall, which is deposited by the 
liver. A long, slender pipe or tube extends from it to the abdomen 
or second stomach, (sometimes, also the first portion of the intes- 
tines) into which it pours the bile, a few inches beiow the pyloric 
orifice, (or tube leading from the stomach to the duodenum. The 
purposes of the bile is to stimulate the intestines and separate the 
chyle from the excrements. 

Rileary Ducts.— As before remarked, the bile is generated In 
the liver. It is then carried by a large number of small pipes or 
tubes to the hepatic ducts or tubes. This anites with the cystic and 
forms the common duct, conveying the bile into the duodenum, or 
upper intestine. The hepathic duct comes from the liver, and the 
cystic from the gall-bladder. The bifurcation and union of the two, 
form the common duct, which conveys the mixed fluids or juices 
of the organs to the duodenum where it further mascerates 
the food received from the stomach, by the way of the pyloric 
orifice, and reduces it to a yellowish compound, of about the con- 
sistency of thick cream or buttermilk. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 277 

The bile thus secreted by the liver, is usually called the " gall.''— 
It is of a yellowish green color, of a soapy nature, of a peculiar 
smell, and exceedingly bitter. This compound is composed of water 
albumen, soda, phosphate of lime, common salt, phosphate of soda, 
lime, and other peculiar substances whose character is not definite* 
ly determined. The office of this compound fluid seems to be to 
separate the nutritious part of the food from that which is coarse 
and useless, while at the same time it keeps up that peristaltic or 
churning motion of the bowls which is necessary to force forward 
the refuse matter towards the rectum and reject it from the system 
by the orifice of the anus 

Spleen.— The color of the sub^tanee of this organ is a dark red, 
sometimes like the liver. It is situated on the right side of the body 
under the stomach. It is broad as the palm of the hand, and one or 
two inches thick. It is in contact with the stomach on the left side. 
Its use is not well understood, but it would seem to have some influ- 
ence in modifying the quantity and quality of the gastric juice 
poured into the stomach from numerous follicles, as a solvent of the 
food received from its cav:ty. 

The Pancreas, sometimes called "sweetbread" is a glandular body, 
of a pale red color, like the tongue ot a dog, being eight or ten 
inches long. It lies behind the stomach, directly across the spine. It 
secrets a fluid resembling saliva,which is poured into the duodenum, 
mingling with the bile, fornfs a peculiar juice that is espec'ally re- 
quisite to secure the proper digestion of the food. The pancreatic 
ducts enters the duodenum along with the bileary duct3, the two 
fluid* (bile and pancreatic juice) meeting at an entrance at the first 
curative of the intestine, at about one third of its whole length from 
the stomach. The bile and pancreatic juice, as already intimated, 
thus poured out together, are both requisite for the formation of 
chyle, and undoubtedly modify the action of each other. The bile 
being somewhat of an unctuous nature and the pancreatic juice 
somewhat alkaline, their union forms a sort of saponaceus com- 
pound, which mitigates the natural irritating character of pure bile 
and causes it more easy incorporation with the chyme. 

The office of the liver and its adjunct organs are really identical. 
They must all work in harmony, otherwise there will be disorder of 
the functions of the whole, entailing many distressing diseases not 
onlv uoon the respective organs themselves, but upon the entire 



278 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



animal economy. It is indespensably necessary to health that the 
liver should perform its functions in a natural manner. If diseased, 
It cannot purify the blood, or separate the refuse elements of food 
from that portion which is nutritious and necessary to produce 
wholesome blood. If impure blood is sent to the lungs, brain and 
other parts, a morbid condition is induced, causing consumption, in- 
sanity, etc., as already detailed. While, should it withhold its nat- 
ural stimulas (the bilo) to the intestine, dyspepsia, piles and other 
distressing complaints will speedily ensue. It is accordingly the 
duty of every individual to keep the liver in a healthy condition by 
every means in his power, and when it becomes diseased, to seek, 
that remedy which will the most quickly and certainly restore its 
normal function and secure its harmonious action with all the other 
organs of the body. 

Diseases of tlic Liiver.— Of all the viscera, the liver is re- 
garded as one of the most importance. It is the central organ of 
the hepatic artery, the vena portae, the biliary duct and the hepatic 
vein. It is the largest gland in the body, weighing about four 
pounds, and as before remarked, extends from the right to the left 
hypoehondrium, being situated obliquely in the abdomen, its convex 
surface looking upward and forward, and it concave, downward 
and backward. It is sustained by strong ligaments to the diaphragm 
and adjacent parts, its chief office is to secrete bile which is poured 
from the gall-bladder into the duodenum, (or second stomach.; a 
few inches below the paunch or regular stomach, which first re- 
ceives the food. 

As a matter of course, the liver and associates organs are liable to 
become disordered, entailing many diseases upon the human organ- 
ism. 

The author does not pretend that any one remedy is a "cure 
all" for the various complications of liver diseases. His remedieg 
are expressly adapted to every individual case. They embrace a 
series or course of medication, that never fails to reach everj- vital 
organ of the entire system, and by restoring the regular action and 
harmony of the whole, remove every vestige of disease. 

Patients are required to furnish a full statement of their respec- 
tive cases, sj r mptoms, age, sex, pursuits of life, habits,temperaments, 
idiosyncracies, and other peculiarities, so as to ensure that combin- 
ation of medicines, as will infallibly promote a cure in the shortest 
possible period. 



MEDICAL GUIDH. 279 

There are, however, many chronic cases of a very obstinate and 
inveterate character. These may require a longer time to effec; 
ually break them up and restore the normal health of the patient. 
The price of a course of medicine is ten dollars, to be invariably 
accompanied with the order for the remedies. Address, Dr. B. F. 
YOUNG & Co., No. 599 Broadway, New- York. 



Catarrhal Affections. 

To find a person entirely free from Catarrhal Affection is an ex- 
ception to what is known as a general rule. Catarrh directly or in- 
directly is the result of more diseases and annoyances than an}" one 
person is prepared to imagine. It is the result of colds taken so in- 
sidiously under all circumstances, and aggravated by every addi- 
tional cold, that its effects, though at first they be but a small germ of 
ill omen like that of an abnoxioas weed in a bed of fragrant flowers, 
on account of its apparent insignificance, and because the gardner 
cannot see it spring forth and does not understand that its name is 
evil, that its mission is misery, suffering and death— therefore he 
neglects it till its poisonous roots become well embedded and extend 
themselves through every sinus^ through every orifice and organ, and 
the head that before was clear, is now a cloudy day— a perpetual ba- 
rometer—the eye that before was bright, has now become sick, or 
the ear whieh was once so acute, has now become dull. The tubes 
of Eustachius which formerly maintained between the internal or- 
gan of sound and the external world an equilibrium have now be- 
come filled or partly so with the secretions of this catarrhal mon- 
ster. 

Who now like the deadly Upas tree, 

To poison turns all that within its shadows be. 

And because its pathegenetic symptoms are as numerous as the 
forest leaves, you must not think they all apply to you— tor it is a 
torment that comes in so many questionable as well as unquestion- 
able forms, that its symptoms are legion, and we can give but a tew, 
some of which will apply to any case. 1st. Of the head— tingling, 
itching, with sense of dryness and obstruction of the nose, sneezing, 



280 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

running of a watery secretion ; as it progresses the secretion be- 
comes mucus, entire obstruction of one or both nostrils, hawking, 
tickling of the throat, coughing, etc. 2d. Catarrh of the Chest— Pre« 
vails as an epidemic sometimes, and is called influenza, with or 
without fever, and many of the symptoms just* mentioned : there is 
oppression across the breast, rawness and burning of the throat, first 
dry, afterwards a copious secretion of mucus, which may become 
opaque or trothy, difficulty of breathing, pain in the head, and dull 
feeling, sense of soreness extending under the breast bone to the 
stomach pit ; the fits of coughing may occasion vomiting, oppres- 
sion and prostration ; as the disease progresses the sputa becomes 
ropy and vesciel. This disease is also called Grippe by some. Ca- 
tarrhal Inflammation ot the eyes arises from cold, causes obstruc- 
tion of the tear passages, watery eyes, fistula lachrymalis, dimness 
of vision, etc. Suppressed Catarrh— May produce inflammation of 
the lungs, brain or eyes, or give rise to rheumatism, nervous disord- 
ers, weeping, moaning, tremors and convulsions, drowsiness, dull- 
ness, starting, twitching, palpitation of the heart, etc. When the 
frontal sinuses above the eyes, posterior and anterior nasal passages 
oecome clogged up , and even the antrum or cavity of the cheek 
Done becomes filled or partly, it often produces a pressure on the 
nerves that supply these parts, and pains like the most excrutiating 
aeuralgia is the result. This disease follows the mucus membrane, 
the Eustachian tubes to all the parts of the same membrane of the 
gar, causing hypertrophy of the drum, interferes with the functions 
af the glands of Wharton, which secrete the wax; a dryness fol- 
lows, hardness of hearing, roaring, buzzing, singing, whistling,crack- 
ling, the ringing of bells and similar noises, which vary and which 
are simple effects— and, when the cause is removed the effects cease, 
this hardness of hearing increases by each additional cold, though 
not perceptible at the time, it cannot be denied, after the lapse of 
time, how Catarrh and all of its sequela is tampered with by every- 
body, by some external remedies of no consequence, or large doses 
of sickening and injurious drugs are used, which have no relation to 
the disease, and produce a thousand other ills, while the writers 
cure it by simple remedies, that flourish in abundance in almost 
every field, and are prepared by Dr. R. F. YOUNG A Co., New York, 
bo pleasantly, and administered so skillfully, as to make it a pleas- 
ure to use them, and they can be, and are sent to all parts of the 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 281 

United States, prepaid by mail, in packages of from three to five 
dollars worth on receipt of symptoms, and price. Though many or 
all you have tried may have failed,remember that Dr R. F. Young * 
Co., are physicians, who have had the medical advantages of every 
civilized country. Their unbounded success and immense practice 
from all parts of the United States are the strongest kind of testi- 
monials of their skill. Address, Dr. R. F. YOUNG k Co., No. 599 
Broadway, New-York. 



RHEUMATISMUS. RHEUMATISM. 

Its Origin— Nature— Treatment. 

Rheumatism is from a Greek word signifying defluxions; 
or from deflus, a latin term, meaning to flow or run off — as 
a falling down of humors from a superior to an inferior 
part, viz., in a cold or catarrh. Many writers, however, 
mean nothing more by it than inflammation. Hence it is a 
disease placed in the class Pyrexia, (indicating fire o\ fe- 
ver) and is found in the order Phlegmasia of Oullen's 
Noseology. 

Rheumatism is characterised by pain in the joints, in- 
creased on motion ; swellings and redness ; pulse accele- 
rated ; increased temperature and thirst. The pain, 
swelling and inflammation generally commence in the joints 
of the extremities, in the toes and ankles, passing thence 
to the hips ; and from the joints to the fingers successively 
to the shoulders. 

Rheumatism is of two kinds — acute and chronic; the 
latter being generally, but not always, a sequel of the former. 

It is a highly painful disease, especially in the acute, ar- 
ticular, or inflammatory form ; the old method of practice 
sometimes rendering it a perilous disorder. It is very 
prone to metastasis (or change from one place to another), 



282 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



particularly when treated by bleeding, and the loeal appli- 
action of anodyne embrocations and blisters. 

Acute rheumatism prevails most among persons from 
puberty to the age of thirty -five or forty jears. It is some- 
times seen in children as early as the third or fourth year- 
It consists, as already intimated, In redness, heat, pain and 
swelling; in other words, of inflammation of " the parts 
ljing around or entering into the composition of one 01 
more of the larger joints of the body; generally of several 
at the same time, or in succession ; shifting from one joint 
to another, or to certain internal organs, and especially tc 
the membrane of the heart, accompanied with fever. ,; 

Acute rheumatism is further characterised " by a great 
expression of pain, with excessive perspiration on the fore- 
head, and loaded and moist state of the tongue. The pa- 
tient generally lies on his back, and especially avoids every 
motion of the body or limbs; or if he does move, he ex- 
periences an acute aggravation of pain, calls out and gives 
a prompt check to the muscular effect. There is little 
languor or debility ; little disturbance of the mental facul- 
ties ; the general surface is usually covered with perspira- 
tion, which is usually acid; the skin is warm, pale and 
often profusely moist, frequently * miliara 1 (from milium 
millet, or resembling millet seed, an eruption, preceded 
by a sense of pricking, first on the neck and breast, of 
small red pimples, which soon become white vesicles, des- 
quamate or scale off and are succeeded by fresh pimples). 
A peculiar odor is also exhaled; the pulse is frequent, 
strong and full; the appetite is seldom impaired; the 
bowels are regular; the urine is acid, and deposits a sedi- 
ment of the lithates, especially on the decline of the affec- 
tion. 

In the form denominated atonic, (weakness or defect of 
muscular power,) the parts are scarcely if any hotter than 
they should be ; a»d may be even relieved by heat. This 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 283 

state of things is most apt to occur in the chronic form of 
disease. 

The chronic form of Rheumatism is distinguished by 
pains in the joints or muscles without fever, (Rheumalismus 
nonfcbrilis or Richter), and is divided into species accord- 
ing to the parts affected. When the pains are confined to 
the loins it is termed lumbago; when to ihe hip-joints, 
Sciatica; to the joints generally, Arthodynia. It is not 
uncommon for the acute form to terminate in one of these 
species. 

There is generally little or no fever in this' form of the 
disease, except when the joints become affected by scrofu- 
lous or other inflammation, as is sometimes the case in 
connection with rheumatism. In old and severe cases the 

i'oints often become very stiff, and comparatively immova- 
>le. The musclesand ligaments become contracted, thick- 
ened and rigid, and the joints are always drawn toone side, 
producing a good deal of deformity. In some cases dis- 
location itself is thus caused. In very old cases the mus- 
cles become almost, or wholly useless, and the parts quite 
paralyzed. In tins form of the disease, as w^ll as in the 
acute, the patient can frequently foretell a storm or change 
of weather, by the nervous or painful sensations they ex- 
perience. 

Diagnosis. — It appears hardly necessary to diagnose 
more particularly the characteristics of Rheumatism. We 
may s >y, however, that the best method to detect the rheu- 
matic character, is first to inquire if there had been cold or 
inflammation, influenced more or less by atmospheric 
changes. Secondly, though the pains may be very acute 
in an attack of rheumatism, the inflammatory symptoms 
are never so great, nor is there that bounding pulse so 
characteristic of other inflammations. Thirdly, the perspi- 
ration is of an urinuous order, in consequence of ircarious 
(or change or substitution), secretion ; urea and lithic acid 
float in the blood, and are observed in the perspirable; mat- 



284 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

ter ; while the urine is albuminous and diminished in quan- 
tity. The albumen may be easily discovered, as the sub- 
stance, (in appearance like the white of an egg), will 
adhere to the splinter taken from a broom, when immersed 
in the urine an hour or two after being voided ; or it may 
also be detected Ly boiling some urine in an iron spoon 
over a lamp, which gives it an opaque appearance. 

Causes. — It is usual to attribute this disease to the 
effects of wet and cold. Doubtless these influences often 
are the exciting causes of rheumatism ; but that they gen- 
erate the disease is palpable fallacy. In the coldest coun- 
tries, it is comparatively unknown. Rhuematism is seldom 
heard of in Russia, Denmark and Poland. The aborigines 
of America — surely often enough exposed to wet and cold 
— never had rheumatism before the whites introduced li- 
quor among them. In fact, rheumatism is one of the pen- 
alties of dissipation and certain to be its companion in old 
age. There are many causes, however, which tend to pro- 
duce the disease even among the young and abstemious ; 
such as sitting in a current of air; bathing in cold water 
when excited and perspiring freely ; sleeping in damp 
apartments, or in damp linens, etc. It frequently follows 
scarlet fever, measles, dysentary, and supposed habitual 
discharges, as the menses, etc. The indiscriminate use of 
mercury is one of the most frequent causes. 

Rheumatism is evidently a constitutional disease. It 
seems to depend on the presence of an abnormal acid in 
the circulation. At least a large amount of lactic acid is 
thrown off by perspiration in some attacks of this disease. 
Some object to this theory, jecause the disease sometimes 
seems purely of a nervous character; but it must not be 
forgotten that while the acid matter in some casrs only act 
on the nerves, its influences, in other cases, is felt in the 
fibrous or serous texture. 

The disease therefore should be regarded as something 
more than ordinary inflammation, as its elements must 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 285 

pre-exist in the system before wet and cold can suffice to 
induce an attack. 

Investigation, indeed, will show that rheumatism is gen- 
erally preceeded by a derangement of the digestive organs, 
hence impure blood and an abnormal accumulation and 
congellation of lymph in the lymphatic vessels. We have 
never known an instance in which such did not appear to 
be the case. The symptoms of gastric disturbance, how- 
ever, in some cases, are not very marked ; but in general 
the patient will be found to have been dyspeptic a consid- 
erable time before attacked with rheumatism. 

There can be no doubt that a predisposition to the dis- 
ease is often inherited. We know that turbucles, syphilis, 
etc., may exist at birth . It is accordingly, no stretch of 
the imagination to believe that rheumatism may pass from 
the parent to the child. Hereditnry rheumatism is much 
more difficult to cure than others. Yet it is not necessiarly 
incurable. No hereditary diesase is necessarily incurable. 

Treatment. — A multiplicity of remedies have been 
resorted to in the treatment of rheumatism. It is doubtful 
if the disease was ever cured by mineral drugs. It is cer- 
tan that no specific has heretofore been discovered. The 
disease has never been steadily obedient to any remedial 
plan. Guiacum, colchicum, croton oil, conium, mercury, 
opium and the alkalies have been tried by the Allopathic 
school of physicians, with variable results, but generally to 
show the inefficiency of these drugs in this painful disease. 
Aconite, Belladonna, Bayronia, Arnica, Chamomile, Mer- 
curic, Nux Vomica, Pulsatillo, ThuX, Toxicodendron, 
Colchicum, Dulcumara, Heper-sulper, Sulphur, Lyc.o- 
podium, Plumbum, etc., used by the Homeophaths, have 
been attended generally in the fluctuating and unsatisfac- 
tory results. 

External applications, as blisters, anodine liniments, 
stimulating embrocations, only act locally, benumbing the 
sensibility of the past, and therefore can never remove the 



286 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



constitutional cause of the disorder. Indeed, they often 
render the case far more serious by causing it to metasta- 
tise to some internal organ. The heart is very liable to be- 
come affected, by the system being badly drugged, inducing 
enlargement, hypertrophy, etc. The younger the child, 
the greater the danger, both from the disease and the; 
poisons given. 

The application of silk oil-cloth, thin sheets of gutta- 
percha, or India rubber to the part most effected, with a 
view to promote an exhalation from the part, is an egregri- 
ous fallacy, founded in a lack of understanding of the na- 
ture and pathology of the disease. They only tend to ag- 
gravate the disoider. The water treatment, is perhaps, 
the most unreliable and worthless of all others. Cold wa- 
ter is not adapted to a cold or lymphatic diathusis, while 
hot water is not the legitimate way to relieve fever or ex- 
anthematous disorders. 

There is but one way to cure this painful disease. We 
must first rectify the derangements of the digestive appara- 
tus. The stomach must be made to seen te tlie gastric 
juices in a natural manner, the liver must fuifil its legiti- 
mate function, in distributing healthy bile lor the filtration 
or chylification of the food and preparation of the elements 
of the blood, prior to its (the blood) being taken up by the 
lacteals and veins, conveyed to the heart and rinally puri- 
fied of its carbonic acid, by its ejection from the lungs, 
on the admission of the oxygen of the atmospheric air, 
which alone can ensure the rich Vermillion blood that tra- 
verses the arteries and nourishes every part of the body, 
supplying bone, nerve, flesh, and other tissues and by these 
means producing harmonious action of all the organs, pro- 
per secretions from all the glands, securing a clear skin, a 
ruddy complexion, and every condition incident to sound 
health and an active nervous development of the human 
being. 

Just such a remedy is now offered to the community. It 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 287 

eonsist* of a compound of vegetable products, expressly 
adapted to act upon every organ of the body, including the 
nerves, hones, muscles, viscora, etc., insuring rapid recov- 
ery of every diseased structure, the proper or normal fun- 
ction of every organ, and, by consequence, the fullest 
health and vigor of the afflicted individual. The com* 
pound is eminently a pain fuller, removing promptly every 
inflammatory indication, and e.ery vestige of the Rheumatic 
diathesis. A cure is guaranteed in all cases, where the 
remedy is regularly taken, and the directions implicitly 
obeyed, no matter how inveterate and long-standing the 
disease. 

Persons afflicted, should state the full particulars of their 
Cases, age, temperaments, locatiou of habitation, business 
pursuits, personal habits, etc., when they will receive a 
course of medicine expressly adapted to meet every indi- 
cation of each individual case. The price of the course of 
Medicine is ten dollars, accompanied with full directions, 
including the kind of diet, etc. All orders promptly filled 
on receipt of the price, and the medicine forwarded by 
Express, or otherwise as may be directed. 

■ 



THE WOMB VEIL,. 

This is an India rubber contrivance which the female 
easily adjusts in the vagina before copulation, and which 
spreads a thin tissue of rubber before the mouth of the 
womb so as to prevent the seminal aura from entering. It 
is an ingenious invention, and one which has already 
proved a great blessing to thousands of females. Tiiii 
prevention possesses the following cpialities : Conception 
cannot possibly take place when it is nsed. The full en- 
joyment of the conjugal embrace can be indulged in during 
coition., The husbaud would hardly be likely to know that 



288 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



it was being used unless told by the wife. Its application 
is easy and accomplished in a moment, without the aid of 
a light. It places conception entirely under the control of 
the wife, to whom it naturally belongs ; for it is for her to 
say at what time and under what circumstances she will 
become the mother, and the moral, religious, and physical 
instructress of offspring. It is durable, and will last a great 
many years. Science can hardly give a more complete 
contrivance than this for the prevention of conception ; at 
any rate, there has been nothing yet discovered that can 
equal it for simplicity and utility. It permits the free and 
unobstructed interchange of individual electricity and the 
union of the alkalies and acids, and, in fact, obstructs no 
function in copulation, except the reproductive. The 
womb veil, with its necessary appendages, can be obtained 
by mail or on personal application at our office. Price 
Five dollars. Sent to any part of the United States, post- 
age paid, on receipt ot the price. 



CAUTION. 

Our readers are hereby particularly requested to always 
bear in mind that we appoint no agents whatever for the 
sale of any of our remedies, or medicines, or anything ad- 
vertised in this book. We merely appoint agents for the 
sale of the book, therefore in all cases be sure and address 
Dr. R. F. Young & Co., No. 599 Broadway, New York. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 289 

Miscellaneous and Domestic Receipts. 



To Prepare the Leaden Tree.— Put half an ounce of the 
super-acetate of lead, in powder, into a clear glass globe, or wine de- 
canter, filled to the bottom of the neck with distilled water and 10 
drops of nitric acid, and shake the mixture well. Prepare a rod of 
zinc, with a hammer and file, so that it may be a quarter of an inch 
thick and one inch long. At the same time, form notches in each 
side for a thread, by which it is to be suspended, and tie the thread 
so that the knot shall be uppermost when the metal hangs quite per- 
pendicular. When it is tied, pass the two ends of the thread through 
a perforation in the cork, and let them be again tied over a small 
splinter of wood, which may pass between them and the cork. 
When the string is tied, let the length between the cork and the zinc 
be such that the precipitant ("the zinc) may be at equal distances from 
the sides, bottom and top of the vessel, when immersed in it. When 
all things are thus prepared, place the vessel in a place where it may 
not be disturbed, and introduce the zinc, at the same time putting in 
the cork. The metal will very soon be covered with the lead which 
it precipitates from the solution, and this will continue to take place 
until the whole be precipitated upon the zinc, which will assume the 
form of a tree or bush whose leaves and branches are laminal, or 
plates of a metallic lustre. 

Th.0 Silver Tree-— Pour— instead of the lead — 4 drachms of 
nitrate of silver, dissolved in a pound or more of distilled water, and 
lay the vessel on the chimney-piece, or wherever it cannot be dis- 
turbed. Next, pour in 4 drachms of mercury. In a short time the 
silver will be precipitated in the most beautiful arborescent form, 
resembling real vegetation. This has been generally termed the 
Arbor Dianas. 

The Tin Tree.— Put in 3 drachms of muriate of tin, adding 10 
drops of nitric acid, and shake the vessel until the salt be completely 
dissolved. Replace the zinc (which must be cleared from the effects 
of the former experiment) as before, and set the whole aside to pre- 
cipitate without disturbance. In a few hours the tree will be lustrous, 
and laminae will burst forth, produced from a galvanic action of the 
metals and the water. 

To Harden a Eazor or Penknife.— Set the blade in a vessel 



290 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



of boiling mutton fat, leave it simmering for 12 hours on the store ; 
then leave it all night to cool in the fat ; bone may then be cut with 
impunity. 

To Make Liquid Glue.— Dissolve shellac in alcohol, to keep 
in solution. 

To Make Liquid Blacking.— Take of vinegar— No. 18— l 
quart ; ivory black and treacle each 6 ounces ; vitriolic acid and 
spermaceti 1> 2 ounces. 

To Prepare Water-Proof Composition.— Take 3 ounces of 

spermaceti ; melt it in a pipkin over a slow Are ; add 6 drachms of 
India rubber, cut in slices, and these will dissolve. Add seriatim of 
tallow, 8 ounces ; hog's lard, 2 ounces ; amber varnish 4 ounces. 
Mix, and it will be fit for use immediately. Give two or three coats 
with a common blacking brush, and a fine polish is the result 

To Make Black Japan.— Take of boiled oil 1 gallon, umber 8 
ounces, asphaltum 3 ounces, oil of turpentine as much as will reduce 
it to the required thinness. 

To Brown Gun-Barrels. — Rub the barrel over with aquafor- 
tis, or spirit of salt, diluted with water ; lay it by for a week, till a 
complete coat of oil is formed ; apply a little oil, and after rubbing 
the surface dry, polish with a hard brush and a little beeswax. 

The Famous Japan Blacking. 

Ivory black 3 ounces. 

Coarse sugar 

Muriatic acid ana 1 drachm. 

Vinegar 1 pound. 

One tablespoonful of sweet oil and lemon acid. Mix the ivory black 
and sweet oil together first ; then the lemon and sugar with a little 
vinegar to qualify the bladking ; lastly, add the sulphuric and muri- 
atic acids and mix all together. 

Colored Composition for Rendering Linen and Cloth 
Impenetrable to Water. — Commence, by washing the stuff 
with hot water ; then dry and rUb it between the hands until it be- 
comes perfectly supple ; afterwards spread it out by drawing it into 
a frame, and give it, with the aid of a brush, a first coat, composed 
of a mixture of 8 quarts of boiling linseed oil, 15 grammes of cal- 
cined amber and acetate of lead ("of each 7% grammas), to which add 
90 grammes of lampblack. For the second coat use the same ingrc- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 291 



dlents as above, except the calx of lead. This coat will dry in a few 
' hours, according to the season; afterward* taie a dry plasterer's 
brush and rub the stuff thoroughly with it, when the hair, by thii 
operation, will become smooth. The third and last coat will give a 
perfect and durable jet black. Or, take 12 quarts of boiling linseed 
oil, 30 grammes of amber, 15 grannies of acetate of lead, 75£ sulphate 
of zinc, 13 grammes prussian blue, and 7K verdigris. Mix them very 
fine with a little oil, and add 120 grammes of lampblack. 

To Make a Furniture Polish.-- Take linseed oil, put it 
into a glazed pipkin, with as mnch alkanet root as it will cover ; let 
it boil gently, and it will become of a strong red color ; when cool. 
It will bo fit for use. 

To Produce a Liquid for Painting on Glass, for 
Magic Lanterns.— Dissolve resin in oil of turpentine, over a slow 
fire; it will remain in solution. Mix a small portion of this with any 
kind of cake (water; color, and trace each out-llne in its proper hue. 

To Preserve Steel- — Imbed the articles in a bed of quick 
lime and sweet oil, and inclose them in carpeting, etc., or melt cav 
outchouc in a close vessel ; mix some oil of turpentine with it, and 
give the steel a thin coating of this mixture. 

A Powder for Turning Water into Vinegar.— Wash weij 

halt a pound of white tartar with warm water ; then dry it and pul. 
verize as fine as possible ; soak that powder with good sharp vine- 
gar, and dry it before the fire or in the sun ; re-soak it as before with 
vinegar, and dry it as above, repeating this operation a dozen times. 
By these means, a very good and sharp powder is prepared, which 
turns water instantly into vinegar. 

To Extract the Essential Oil from any Flower.— Take 

any flower you like, which stratify with common salt, in a clean 
glazed pot ; when filled to the top, cover it well and carry it to th« 
cellar ; forty days afterwards, put a crape over a pan, and empty 
the whole to strain the essence from the flowers by pressure. Bot- 
tle that essence, and expose it for four or five weeks in the sun an4 
dew of the evening to purify. One single drop of the essence U 
enough to scent a whole quart of water. 

To Make Mntton Snet Candles like Wax.— Throw quick 

lime on melted mutton suet ; the lime will fall to the bottom, 
and carry along with it all the dirt of the suet, so as to leave it 



292 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



as pure and fine as wax. To one part of this suet mixed three of 
real wax— and the mixture cannot be discovered. 

To Whiten Ivory.— Slack some lime in water, put your ivorj 
in that water, after decanted from the ground, and boil it until 
white. 

To Petrify Wood, etc —Take equal quantities of gem-salt, 
rock-alum, white vinegar, chalk and pebbles powdered. Mix all 
all the these together ; an ebullition will take place ; when that 
cease, leave any porous matters soaking four or five days, and they 
will be petrified. 

An Oil, one ounce of which is more than equal to one 

pint Of any Other.— Take fresh butter, quick lime, crude tartar 
and common salt, equal parts of each ; pound and mix them to- 
gether ; saturate this mixture with good brandy, and distill it 
in a retort over a gradual fire. 

To Imitate Ebony,— Infuse gall-nuts in vinegar, wherein you 
have soaked rusty nails ; then rup your, wood with this ; let it dry, 
then polish and burnish. 

An Easy Method of Gleaning the Hands when Dyed,— 

Take a small quantity of potash or pearlash in your hand, pour into 
it a small quantity of water, rub it well all over your hands with a 
little sand ; then wash it off, take in your hand a small quantity of 
chemic (chloride of lime;, pour a little water into it, and rub it well 
on the hands in a semi-liquid ; wash the hands well in water, and 
they will be clean. If not perfectly clean, repeat the operation. 

To make Whitewash that will not Eub Off.— Mix up haw 

a pint full of lime and water, ready to put on the wall ; then take 
one-fourth ot a pint of flour, mix it up with water ; then pour on it 
boiling water, sufficient quantity to thicken it ; then turn it, while 
hot in the whitewash ; stir all well together, and it is ready. 

To Cure Six Hams. — Take six ozs. of saltpetre, two lbs. TO 
ozs. of fine salt, ±% of brown sugar or one gallon of molasses. Rub 
them with this for one week every day ; then put them into a strong 
pickle Csalt and water) for one month ; then smoke them, if to keep. 
Your pickle will, after the hams are taken out, be excellent for beef. 

A Cement for Broken Earthen Ware— Take one oz. of drj 
cream cheese grated fine, and an equal quantity of quick lime, 
mixed well together. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 293 



Water-JTOOf Cloth-— Boil together 2 lbs. of turpentine and 1 
lb. of litharage in powder, and 2 or three pints of linseed oil. Brush 
any cloth with this varnish, and dry it in the sun. 

To Prevent the Smoke of Lamp Oil.— steep your wick in 

vinegar, and dry it well before using it. 

To Render any Building Pire-Proof.— Fin every partition 

and crevice between each wall and ceiling with seasand. 

Water-proof Boots and Shoes.— Disolve neat's-foot oil 
In caoutchouc, a sufficient quantity to ioqpa. a varnish. Place the 
oil in a warm place ; put in the pairings of the caoutchouc. It takes 
several days to disolve. 

Japan Ink.— In 6 quarts of water boil 4 ounces of logwood In 
chips, cut very thin across the grain. Continue the boiling for one 
hour, adding from time to time a little boiling water, to supply the 
loss from evaporation. Strain while hot When cold, add cold wa- 
ter to equal 5 quarts ; to this add— 

Blue-galls, coarsely bruised 16 ounces, 

Or, the best galls, in sorts 20 ounces, 

Sulphate of iron, calcined to whiteness .4 ounces, 

Acetate of copper ("previously mixed with the decoc- 
tion toa smooth paste; 4 drachms. 

Coarse sugar 3 ounces, 

Gum-Senegal or Arabic... 4 ounces, 

These ingredients may be introduced one after the other. 

Red Ink.— Boil, over a slow fire, 4 oz. of Brazil wood, in small 
raspings or chips, in one quart of water until a third part has evapo- 
rated ; add, during the boiling, 2 drachms of alum In powder.— 
When the ink is cold, steam it through a fine cloth. Vinegar or stale 
urine is often used instead of water. A small quantity of sal-am- 
moniac improves this ink. 

Blue Ink.— Dilute sulphate of indigo with water until the re- 
quired tint is obtained. Woolen dyers keep the sulphate on hand. 

A Paste for Sharpening Penknives, Razors, etc.— 
Crocus, emery-dust, and sweet oil— equal quantities of the first two. 

Bine Copal Varnish.— Indigo, Prussiate of iron (Prussian 
blue), blue verditer, and ultramarine, all divided. 

White Copal.— White oxide of lead, ceruse, Spanish white, 
white clay, all carefully dried. 

To Clear Buildings of Rats, etc.— Gather the plant dog'a- 



294 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



tongua (the syonglossum officinale of Linnans), found in everj 
field ; when the sap is in its full vigor, bruise it with a hammer an4 
lay it on the ground, etc. 

A Cure for Sore Backs of Horses.— Disolve half an ounce 
<lf blue vitrol in one pint of Ava^er ; dab the injured parts four or five 
times a day. 

To Remove Mildew in "Wheat.— Prepare about two hhda. 
of common salt and water (1 lb. to a galj ; sprinkle this mixture for 
four or five days from a bucket, using a flat brush ; and disperse it as 
when sowing corn broadcast. 

To Prevent Mildew.— Disolve 3 oz. and 2 drachms of sifl- 
phate of copper, or blue vitrol, in 3 gallons and 3 quarts, wine mea 
sure of cold water for every three bushels of grain that is to be pre- 
pared ; in another vessel, capable of containing from 53 to 79 wine 
gallons, throw from three to four bushels of wheat, into which the 
prepared liquid is poured until it rises five or six inches above the 
corn ; stir it thoroughly, and carefully remove all that swims on 
the surface. After it has remained half an hour in the preparation, 
throw the water into a basket that will only allow the water to es- 
eape. Wash the grain in pure rain water, and dry it before it is 
sown. 

Magic Seals, Rings, Images, Rods, and Wafers.— 
A will made in your favor has a magic seal. A mother's lips, or the 
lips of a lover make very deep impressions. Magic Rings are plaia 
hoops of gold, that transform vestals into good women. Magic Ima- 
ges are the little anima- waxen figures that are raised by a wizard, 
called Hymen. Magic Rods were formally used in schools by 
grumpy pedagogues of the Squeers genus ; and Magic Wafers are 
what the young ladies love for billet do ax. 



WORMS.— Description, Causes, Symp- 
toms and Treatment. 



Description. — These are chiefly of three kinds, 
vis., the tania, or tape worm ; the teres, or round and long 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 295 

worm; and trn ascarides, or round and short worm. There 
are many other kinds of worms found in the human body ; 
but as they proceed, in a gre*at measure, from similar 
causes, have nearly the same symptoms, and require almost 
the same method of treatment as these already mentioned, 
we shall not spend time in enumerating i.hem. 

The tape worm is white, very long, and full of joints. 
It is generally bred either in the stomach or small intes 
tinss. The round and long worm is likewise bred in the 
small guts, and sometimes in the stomach. The round 
ana short worms commonly lodge in the rectum, and occa- 
sion a disagreeable itching about the seat. The long round 
worms occasion squ amishness, vomiting, a disagreeable 
breath, gripes, looseness, swelling of the belly, swooning, 
loathing of food, and at other times a voracious appetite, 
i dry cough, convulsions, epileptic fits, and sometimes a 
privation of speech. These worms have been known to 
perforate the intestines, and get into the cavity* of the belly. 
The effects of the tape worm are nearly the same with 
those of the long and round, but rather more violent. 

Andry snys, " The following symptoms particularly at- 
tend the solium, which is a species of tape worm, viz. : 
swoonings, privation of speech, and a voracious appetite. 
The round worms, called ascarides, besides an itching of 
the anus, cause swoonings and tenesmus, or an inclination 
to gj to stool. 

Causes. — Worms may proceed from various causes ; 
but they are seldom found, except in weak and relaxed 
stomachs, where the digestion is bad. Sedentary persons 
are more liable to them than the active and laborious. 
Those who eat great quantities of unripe fruit, or live much 
on raw herbs and roots, are generally subject to worms. 
There stems to be an hereditary disposition in some per- 
sons to this disease. 

Symptoms. — The common symptoms of worms are, 
paleness of the countenance, and at other times a universal 



296 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



flushing of the (nee; itching- of the nose, (this, however, ts 
doubtful, as children pick their noses in all diseases;) 
starting and grinding of the teeth in sleep; swelling of the 
Upper lip; the appetite sometimes bad, at other times 
quite voracious ; looseness ; a sour breath ; hard swelled 
bowels; great thirst; the urine frothy, and sometimes of 
a whitish color; griping, or colic pains; an involuntary 
discharge of saliva, especially when asleep ; frequent pains 
of the side, with a dry cough, and unequal pulse, palpi- 
tations of the heart, swoonings, drowsiness, cold sweats, 
palsy, epileptic fits, with many other unaccountable ner- 
vous symptoms. Small bodies in the excrements, resemb- 
ling melon or cucumber seeds, are symptoms of the tape 
worm. 

Says Buchan, " I lately saw some very surprising effects 
of worms in a girl about five years of age, who used to lie 
for whole hours as if dead. She at last expired, and, upon 
opening her body, a number of the teres, or long round 
worms, were found in her intestines, which were consid- 
erably inflamed ; and what anatomists call an intus-suscep- 
tioy or the involving of one part of the gut within another, 
had taken place in no less than four different parts of the 
intestinal canal." 

Treatment. — Calomel is now principally used for 
the removal of worms; but this medicine, as has been fre- 
quently shown, is very dangerous to administer. Calomel 
or mercury is the basis or principal ingredient of most of 
the highly rejiuted nostrums for worms, such as woim loz- 
enges, vermifuges, &c. 

The principal indication in the removal of worms is. to 
excite a healthy action of the digestive organs. It is owing 
to a derangement of these that they exist; hence the e is 
mucus and disease always present. 

Tape Worm. — The symptoms of a tape worm, as 
related to us by Miss Dumouline, who had been suffering 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 297 



by it for twenty-five years, are as follows, communicated 
to the authors for this treatise: 

It commenced at the age often, and afflicted her to the 
age of thirty-five. The worm often made her distressingly 
sick at the stomach, and she would sometimes vomit 
blood, and was suddenly taken ill, and occasionally when 
walking. It caused symptoms of many other diseases, 
great wasting of the flesh, &c. Her appetite was very ca- 
pricious, at times very good, and again poor for months, 
during which time her symptoms were aggravated: sick- 
ness, vomiting, great pain in the chest, stomach, side, and 
bowels, dizziness, heaviness of the eyes, motion in the 
stomach and bowels, beating or throbbing in the bowels, 
and so miserable that she feared it would destroy her ; a 
sense of fullness or swelling of the stomach and bowels; 
and, when she wore anything tight, or laced, it caused 
great distress. The worm appeared to rise up into her 
throat and sicken her ; and her general health was very 
bad. 

At intervals pieces of the worm would pass from the 
bowels, often as many as forty during the day, all alive, 
and would swim in water* This generally occurred some 
time after taking medicine. 

We prepare a remedy for the several kinds of worms, 
which we will send to any person so afflicted on the re- 
ceipt of two dollars, with full directions for its use. It will 
be necessary for the patient to send a full description of 
their symptoms with the money, that we may be enabled 
to prepare the remedy for each particular case in a proper 
manner. Address Dr. R. F. Young & Co., No. 599 Broad- 
way, New- York. 



PROTECTIVE CAPS. 

These caps merely cover the end of the male organ ; 



298 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



they are arranged with elastic rings which make them self* 
supposing. They furnish a perfect prevention against 
conception, and from their great strength they maybe used 
several times with safety. They answer every purpose as a 
prevention to conception where a cheap artic e is required, 
and at the same time very convenient, requiring but little 
space. 

Forwarded free by mail at 30 cts. each, or $3 per doz. 

As a prevention against disease, the latest improved 
Con dam should be used. (See page 273.) 



FEMALE MONTHLY PILLS. 



We are pleased to be able to announce to the females 
©f Amerira, that by our great experience and extensive 
practice we have been enabled to prepare the most suc- 
cessful remedies in use for female complaints, among which 
none rank higher, or are more esteemed than the 

Female Monthly Pills. 

These pills are the result of careful study and long ex- 
perience in female complaiuts, and in chronic and acute 
leuchortea or whites, painful or suppressed menstruation, 
weakness or falling of the womb, ulcerations, etc., their 
use is an entire success; and a portion of a single box will 
convince those thus afflicted, that a remedy is at last dis- 
, covered — safe, certain and salutary — to which the timid 
and delicate female may turn with every hope and ptospect 
of relief. These remarkable pills are compounded under 
our immediate supervision, and are composed of vegetable 
remedies of the most innocent, subtle, yet powerful char- 
acter, and Can be used by any lady with the happiest re- 
sults. These pills are put up expressly for mailing, accom- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 299 



pnnied with full and complete directions for use, and are 
sent to any place on receipt of the. price, which is one dol- 
lar per box. Where a letter of advice is necessary, such 
letter will accompany the pills without extra charge, and 
every means used to benefit suffering humanity. ^@&*~Mar- 
ried ladies, hy reading- the directions carefully, will find a 
caution which it will be necessary to observe when it is 
expedient to use th se pills. ISF^One dollar, enclosed in 
a well sealed letter, will secure a box underseal. Address 
Dr. R. F. Young & Co., No. 599 Broadway, New-York. 



How long the Food continues in the 
BODY. 

The human machine consumes, or, in other words, we 
eat and drink from five to tvelve pounds every day — in ex- 
treme cases much less, or vastly more, but this is about its 
medium range. Now all this leaves the body after it has 
accomplished its destined object. How do we know it all 
leaves the body 1 We know from the very common fact, 
that many persons weigh more at 20 than they do at 70 — 
in fifty years not having gained one ounce. Some persons 
flesh up a little, but it does not alter the general rule, for 
should even a very small portion of our daily food be re- 
tained, or stick to our bodies, we should become monsters 
in size during a long life. Now, all this food and drink, 
with all its grossness, leaves the machine, or person, 
through four avenues only, namely, tTie skin, the lungs, the 
kidneys, and the bowels; and on the mutual harmony, in 
action and functions, of those four great avenues for evacu- 
tion and unloading the machine, its health and long contin- 
uance must inevitably depend. 

The gross portions of the food, or that which is unfit for 
nourishment, or is undigested, passes through the smal 



300 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

bowels and is lodged in the large bowel. In a healthy 
condition of the large bowel, and when it acts naturally, it 
evacuates itself every twenty-four hours. If the contents of 
that bowel are retained longer than twenty-four hours, ife 
becomes injurious to the machine, or system, and the in- 
jury is in proportion to the time it is retained over its na- 
tural term. 



Liver Regulating Pills. 

These pills are composed of roots and herbs, obtained 
from nature's vast laboratory, and are the most pleasant Pill 
to take, as well as the most potent to do good, now in the 
market. They do not produce nausea or sickness of the 
Stomach, as many other pills do. 

They are excellent for dypeptics as they speedily restore 
the digestive faculties to their full vigor, and cure the worst 
cast's of indigestion. Also, costiveness, piles, bitter or 
sour eructations, and that incescrible feeling of oppression, 
mental anxiety, langor, lethargy and depression of spirits, 
which unfit a man for the management of business, and the 
enjoyment of life, are all relieved by the use of the Liver 
Regulating Pills. 

When we reflect that the liver is the largest internal or- 
organ of the body; that to it is assigned the important 
duty of filtering the blood and preparing the bile ; that it is 
subject to many disorders, and that when it is diseased or 
inactive, the whole body suffers sympathetically, it is not 
surprising that a medicine which can restore the healthy 
operations of the liver should produce wonderful changes in 
the general health and effect cures which may appear to be 
almost miraculous. Headache of long continuance, severe 
pains m the side, breast and shoulders, aching of the limbs, 
a feeling of general weakness and wretchedness and other 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 301 

alarming and distressing symptoms indicative of imperfect 
or disordered action of the liver, are speedily removed by 
the use of the Liver Regulating Pills. 

Price 50 cents per box, or three boxes for $1, sent an} 
where, prepaid by mail. 



FEMALE SYRINGE. 

There are various styles of syringes for the use of fe. 
males, some are made of glass, others of Britannia, hard 
rubber, etc. But those manufactured from vulcanized 
rubber are altogether the most efficient instruments. Then 
there are various qualities of these, the best of which is the 
** Double Valve Syringe. " This instrument will throw a 
volume of water or other fluid with great force, so aa to pen- 
etrate every part of the vaginal cavity, and it may be used 
for years without losing its elasticity, while others are apt 
to become rigid and hard after a few months use. No one 
good habit conduces more to the health of the female than 
that of occasionally syringing the vagina, and keeping 
thereby ihe organs of procreation cleanly and free from 
corrosive or acrimonious secretions. La'lies wishing to 
possess themselves of an excellent article of this kind, can 
be supplied confidentially on application in person, or by 
mail. Price $3, forwarded, postage paid to any part of 
the United States, on receipt of the price. 



NOTICE TO OUR READERS. 

We will here state before drawing our volume to a close, 
that we shall at all times be happy to render any assistance 



302 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



in our power to our friends, who reside in the country, and 
wish anything from the city of a medical or surgical nature 
not mentioned in this work. Ladies, particularly, would 
rather apply to a physician for mechanical remedies, etc., 
than to call at public places for them. All letters, or per- 
sonal consultation concerning anything of the kind, will, in 
all cases, be treated with perfect confidence. 

It is often difficult to obtain some things in country 
places, which are easily found in a large city like this, and 
as we employ several persons possessing medical skill, we 
can occasionaly detach one or more of them to attend to 
the wants of our correspondents. 

Should any of our readers feel any delicacy in writing 
us, for fear it might create talk, inquisitiveness or suspi- 
cion in small country places where every body tries to make 
it a point to know every body else^ business ; they can 
leave off the Dr., if they prefer, and address, R F Young 
& Co. We will be sure to get the letter. Persons visiting 
the city will have no trouble in finding our office, as it is 
located on the most fashionable part of Broadway, nearly 
opposite the Metropolitan Hotel. It contains several sep- 
arate rooms, and every desired convenience. 

Persons addressing us by mail, will in all cases when an 
answer is required, enclose a stamp. 



Recipes for the Family. 
To Brew for a gniall Family,— Twenty 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 303 



gallons of good beer require 1 & 1-2 bushels of malt and a 
ound of hop*. Boil 30 gallons of soft water, in w'ii<h 
half a pound of chalk has been dissolved. Having a small 
boiler, it may tke three times to fill your mesh tub, which 
must be well covered with a double blanket. When full, 
wait until your face is reflected on the surface of the wa- 
ter; then empty your malt therein, and give it a good stir 
up for ten minutes. Recover the tub, and leave the liquor 
to mesh for three hours; then draw it off, by a tap or 
spigot and f ucet. into a cooler; fill up your boiler with 
this liquor, make up a good fire, and let it boil thoroughly 
(the longer it boils the longer it will keep — having more 
body from evaporation). Have your brewer's yeast ready, 
mix a quart with some of the boiling fluid, provide two 
vessels, and pour the yeasty compound backwards and 
forwards to quicken it. When the liquor is boiling briskly, 
throw in one-third of the hops and one-third of a pound of 
liquorice root — or (for debilitated constitutions) introduce 
3 ounces chamomile flowers ; then rake out the fire, cool off 
a little, and set it working, increasing the beer as fast as it 
becomes tepid. R; peat the latter operations with the two 
other boilings — and when all this has been worked for 
about twelve hours, in two or three large coolers, have your 
barrels ready (thoroughly clean) ; if the inside is charred, 
so much the better. Leave out the vent-peg until tke 
beer has done working. Let it stand for a few days. A 
beverage of this kind is superior to any other for laborers 
and invalids. 

MllffillS. — Mix 2 lbs. of flour with a pint of warm 
milk; 2 eggs well beaten; half a spoonful of melted but- 
ter, and h;ilf a gill of yeast; stir it well together, and set 
it in a warm place for two hours, then bake on a griddle 
in rings two-thirds full. When one side is done, turn the 
other. 

Crumpets. — Put half a gill of yeast into a quart of 
warm milk, with a tea-spoon full of salt; stir in flour to 



304 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



make a good batter ; set it in a warm place to rise ; when 
light add a cup of melted butter, and bake as muffins. 

Ricll Bride Calie. — Four lbs. of fine flour, dried ! 
4 lbs. of sweet fresh butter, beaten to a cream ; 2 lbs. 
white sugar; six yolks eggs to each lb. of flour; half an 
ounce each of mace and nutmeg, finely powdered ; 4 lbs. 
of currents thoroughly cleansed — spread them on a cloth 
to dry. Stone and chop 4 lbs. of raisins ; cut two lbs. of 
citron in slices, quarter of an inch in thickness ; bleach 1 
lb. of almonds. Beat the eggs with the sugar to a smooth 
paste ; beat the butter and flour together, add them to the 
yolks and sugar, finish with the spices half a pint of brandy, 
the whites of the eggs beaten to a high froth. Beat the 
cake mixture well together, and stir in the fruit. Butter 
the pans; line them with paper; put the mixture in two 
inches deep. Bake three or four hours. 

An English Plum Pudding.— Six yolks of 

eggs; 1 pint of milk. Beat it well with a fork. 1 lb. ot 
flour scattered in ; 1 red carrot, finely scraped ; 1 lb. of 
moist sugar; 2 ounces each of dried citron, lemon and 
orange peel, candied ; also of carraway seeds ; and one 
ounce of magnesia with the flour. Shred half a pound of 
beef suet with the flour before mixing. Boil for four 
hours in a basin or cloth well floured, and tied up closely. 
Add one ounce of allspice. 

Pancak.eS. — Make a rich batter with 10 yolks of 
eggs, half a pound of sugar, half a pint of good beer, and 
beat it well up to the consistence of cream. Throw a 
little hog's lard into the pan ; when thoroughly melted, 
pour in a cupful of batter, shake it well and toss it; then 
when six are fried, serve up with sugar and lemon juce. 

Heart Cakes. — Beat half a pound of butter to a 
cream, take 6 eggs, beat the whites to a froth, and the 
yolks, with half a pound of sugar, and half a pound of but- 
ter : add a wine-glass of brandy, half a pound of currants 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 305 

(washed and dried), a quarter of citron, cut in slices. Mix 
well, and bake in heart-shaped tins in a quick oven i'oi 
15 minutes. 

Sponge Cake, — One pound of sugar, half a pound 
of flour, 8 eggs, essence of lemon or rose water, 1 spoon- 
ful ; half a nutmeg grated. Beat the yolks of the eggs, 
flour and sugar together; add the whites, benten to a 
froth, when just ready for the oven. Bake for 20 minutes 
and cut in oblongs. 

Italian Macaroons.— Blanch half a pound of 

almonds, then throw them into cold water until they are 
skinned ; take them out and bruise them to a smooth paste, 
Add to this a table-spoonful of essence of lemon, half a 
pound of finely powdered white sugar and the whites of 2 
eggs. Work the paste well together with the back of a 
spoon ; roll the preparation in balls the size of nutmegs. 
Dip your hands in water, and pass them gently over the 
macaroons after having them an inch apart on a sheet of 
paper. Place them in a cool oven and close it. They take 
three quarters of an hour to bake. 

Iceing for Cali.es. — Beat the whites of two small 
eggs to a high froth, add 1 1-4 lb. of white ground or pow- 
dered sugar, beat well, flavor with lemon or rose. With a 
broad bladed knife, dipped in cold water, spread the ice 
over the cake. 

Lemon Oancly. — Three pounds of coarse brown 
augar. 3 teacups full of water. Set over a slow fire for 
half an hour. Add a little gum arabic, dissolved in hot 
water, to clear it; skim until quite clear. When done, it 
will snap like an icicle. Flavor with essence of lemon, 
and cut into sticks. 

An infallible Remedy for Hoarse- 
ness. — One pint of vinegar, 1 pint of molasses, 1 pint o^ 
iweet turnip juice fiom Duch turnips boiled — just so. Or 



306 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



a pound of turnips may be cut into small dice, and, like 
jujubes, are none the worse for preserving. 

Dried Salmon. — Cut the fish down the back, take 
out the inside and roe, scale it, and rub the whole with 
common salt. Hang to dry for 24 hours. ' Pound 3 or 4 
ounces of saltpetre, 2 ounces of coarse salt, and 2 ounces 
of brown sugar. Mix well and rub in, and lay the fish for 
two days on a dish ; then rub well with common salt. la 
24 hours more it will be fit to dry. Wipe well rafter drain- 
ing. Stretched open on two sticks, and hung in a wood 
chimney j it. will dry. 

To extract the juice of Sugar-Maples 

and Spare the Tree. — At the proper season open 
the ground and select a tender root (one or two fingers di- 
ameter), rut off the end, and raise the root sufficiently high 
for turning the severed pnrt into a receiver. The sugar 
will flow freely ; when it stops bury the root again. The 
tree will not suffer. This is a Kentuckian notion. 

To restore Tainted Beef. — Plunge it in 

brewer's yeast for 12 hours, turn it, and let remain 12 hours 
longer. Although putrid, it will become perfectly sweet. 

To Preserve Meat. — Spread prepared char- 
coal between every layer, end pack in charred barrells. 

In case ©f oeing Poisoned.— Take a table- 
spoonful of prepaied mustard and mix with warm water ; 

swallow one lialf, and call for medical assistance. 

A INew Recipe for Whooping Cough: 

Hydiiodate Putassa 6 grs. 

Gum Arabic. ., 7- " 

Syrup Senega Snake Root 1 li 

Tic. Lobelia 1 " 

InHanied Uvula and TonsMs.— Pour boil- 
ing water on the following ingredients and inhale the va- 
por ; hoarhound, tansy and wormwood, equal parts, and a 



MEDICAL GUIBE. 307 

sufficient quantity. Use it every four hours, and this 
gargle : 

Comp. Tine. Myrrh ...... 

Tine. Golden Seal ana. 4 ounces, 

A Lobelia Emetic, followed with Crawley and White 
Root. 

A Stimulating Liniment : 

Alcohol , 4 ounces, 

Oil of Wormwood 

Oil Oiiganum ana .40 drops. 

A CeplialiC Snilff. — Equal parts of common 
salt, camphor, spermaeeeti, say one ounce of each ; 1 
drachm of prepared charcoal. 

To Gild Glass and Porcelain. — Prepare a 

var.iish by dissolving in boiled linseed oil an equal weight 
either ©f copal or amber. This must be diluted with oii of 
turpentine and applied as thin as possible to the part* tor 
gilding. After twenty-lour hours place the glass in a siove 
until too hot to hold: the varnish then will become nd na- 
tive and the gold le f itjc^ ■ hi; ls.id on. Brush off the su- 
perfluous gold and burnish. 

To Gild toy Dissolving; Gold.— To dissolve 

gold, take aqua regia, euni^iscd of 2 parts of nitrous acid, 
and one of matine acid. Ltu twe gold be granulated, put 
into a sufficient quantity of cms menstrum and exposed to a 
moderate degree of heat. During the solution an effer- 
vescence takes place, and it acquires a beautiful yellow 
color, which becomes more and more intense until it has a 
golden or orange hue and is very transparent. 

The East India Cement, called Cim- 

man* — Equal quantities of oyster shell powder, egg 
shells, ground glass, quick lime and bismuth, dissolved in 
nitrous acid, the whole stirred up with the white o£ eggs 



308 THE MAGIC WAND AND 

until of the consistence of thick cream. This, when ap- 
plied on walls or tiles, has a beautiful shining appearance. 

Painting On Velvet. — Materials: Best white 
Cotton velvet ; box of water colors ; a saucer of pink dye ; 
Towne's alumina ; velvet scrubs ; fitch pencils ; small sau- 
cers to contain diluted colors. Practice the most simpl* 
subjects first, such as a shell or flower, etc. The broadest 
light and shade produce best effects. Colors for velvet are 
lake, carmine, vermillion, light red, assiette rogue, Prussian 
blue, indigo. Antwerp and verditer, gamboge and Roman 
ochre, terre de Sienna, burnt and unburnt, umber do., do., 
Vandyke brown, bistre, lamp black, Indian ink. Smooth 
the back of the velvet with a hot iron. Gut your fitch 
pencils to points. Having drawn your subject, dilute the 
colors in alumina, excepting pink, carmine and lake, (mix 
ed with lemon juice). Make the color creamy. Rab in 
the tints with the scrub. Before the work gets too dry, 
put in the shadows accurately, softening off the edges. Be- 
fore the finishing tints are thrown in, heighten the lights 
and deepen the shadows, then vein the leaves. For a 
large subject, damp the back of the velvet. Let the brush 
be nearly dry when passing the outlines. Have a good 
supply of clean fitches and avoid the faintest stain. 

A. CoUQ.net saturated with chloroform and placed 
on the botom of a corpse will not wither after icveral yean* 
bunaia 






MEDICAL GUIDE. 809 

ELIXIR OF SAFE. 

For the restoration of Youthful Vigor and perma- 
nent cure of Nervousness Timidity, etc. 

By the use of this preparation, the system will regain 
new life, strength and rigor. Old persons may again feel 
young and repossess all the activity and energy of their 
youthful days. It is equally valuable in building weak and 
shattered constitutions, whether inherited or caused by in- 
discretion or sickness. This preparation is not only highly 
prized for its great and rare medical virtues in snatching 
as it were from the very jaws of death, the victims of ex- 
cess and misfortune and restoring them to the glory of health 
and strength, but is is also much esteemed for its happy 
effect on the 'system in banishing all melancholy thoughts, 
and causing persons to almost imagine that they are in a 
sea of bliss, where all trouble ceases, and the soul glows 
in eternal happiness. It strengthens the nerves, and cures 
timidity, as well as' nervousness. All persons troubled with 
these complaints will of course appreciate the value of a 
eure. This remedy also from its vitality and peculiar action 
on the system, adds greatly to the proper development or 
the organs, banishes all wrinkles from the forehead, and 
renders the countenance brilliant and beautiful. This re- 
medy securely sealed, will be mailed free to any address, 
with full directions for use on receipt of $3, or four packa- 
ges for $10. Address, Dr. R. F. YOUNG & Co., No. 
5S9 Broadway, New-York. 



310 THE MAGIC WAND AND 



SPECIAL NOTICE! 

jy Correspondents would oblige us, and 
serve themselves by writing their names, the 
name of their Town, County and State plainly, 
so that errors maybe avoided. Our address is 
Dr. R. F. YOUNG & Co., No. 599 Broadway, 
New-York City. 

Ep 3 All Correspondence will be returned, if 
go desired by the person writing to us. 

CSPNo second person is permitted to sea our 
correspondence, so that communications are 
sure to be held sacred between us and the 
persons writing. 



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